My Little Pony LII: 525.600 Ponies!

[Nameless]

My take is that griffons are good at soaring and diving, but don't turn as tightly as the smaller, shorter-winged pegasi.

And I've believed in Lyra and Bon Bon as a couple since the Season One poster, but Putting Your Hoof Down really reinforced that in my mind.

Spoiler

Show

I don't recall the article, luv, but you yourself point out how to refute it. Rainbow Dash is perfectly capable of being a fillyfooler without being a stereotype thereof. In fact, her current characteristic of conceding to Fluttershy's whims suggests she already doesn't conform, unless there is a 'butch lesbians act manly but like Wong womanly in private" stereotype I've missed... And I'd there is it is patently stupid. It's attributing a human characteristic to someone in vacuum and pretending it is indicative of something.

Personally, I see your point. However, I doubt it would convince people that goes out of their way to look for problems. And believe me, there are plenty of them. That one characteristic that contradicts the stereotype won't change the fact that in many ways, she still would be a stereotype.
(No matter how much fun RD/Fluttershy would be .___.)

That would be good.

Personally? I would like to see Rainbow Dash outed as asexual. (is outed the right word?) it's one of those things that would harm none and be beneficial, as a huge swathe of the population don't even know such things *exist.

I pretty much see them all as asexual until proven otherwise to be honest.

[Deadly]

Spoiler

Show

i didnt catch a "not breathing" reference in ch1. my first thought was that they did something to her (which is why she wasnt hurt), then put her back. of course dreams and other shenanigans crossed my mind, but not some kind of split/clone/thing.

not that it's a problem, makes sense in retrospect. it's just that since i didnt know that when i started the chapter, i was confused as hell.

I'll see if I can do something to ease any confusion, but it's probably not easy.

Personally? I would like to see Rainbow Dash outed as asexual. (is outed the right word?) it's one of those things that would harm none and be beneficial, as a huge swathe of the population don't even know such things *exist.

I would hate that.

Not the message, the message is fine, but asexual Dash? Not the right pony for the job, so to speak. It seems to me that Dash is the first pony people turn to for controversial sexualities. I mean, I'm great with her being a lesbian, but does she have to be everything else too?

I'm not sure who I think would be a better asexual candidate, maybe Pinkie?

Not at all. In fact, I would find that to be a huge disservice.

I can count twenty personal examples of people who have had terrible lives because the notion that something is normal and natural was alien to them. Kids discover both love an sexuality at VERY young ages - dealing with masturbation is the unspoken phase of raising a two year old, for example. And yet the only media portrayals are terribly unhealthy, forcing kids to try and wedge who and what they are into a narrow, socially accepted box.

Sound familiar?

"girls don't have to be frilly, vapid and passive. They can be beautiful and active and nice, and aggressive and smart and still be girls." we already have an implicit mission statement of broadening horizons and dealing with the one thing that matters for everyone; self-judgement.

Sure it's possible to make another show to handle this, but what are the odds of such a show having the cultural traction MLP does? If it can be done without ruining the show - and all the implicit shipping material says that it can - then why not? "because let sleeping dogs lie" or "don't stir up social issues" is a terrible rational of playing it safe. If we had played it safe in the first place, we wouldn't have Friendship is Magic at all! We would have gen 3.5, and no power in the verse could make that watchable. We wouldn't have Rarity dealing with the differences between romantic fantasy and romantic reality. We wouldn't have anything that deviates from the pattern. And that is terrible.

You know that picture of AppleJack hugging Rainbow Dash? With the caption "it's okay to be you"? I refuse to accept that means 'it's okay to be you, unless you rock my boat.'

I concur! The show has done a lot of good, but it's never the time to rest on your laurels. Always strive to do even better, build on what you've got that works, because you may not get the chance again if you start over from scratch. Take chances too, be bold, because you never know how long it's going to last anyway.

Personally I don't give a damn what all the bigots might think, if they don't like it that doesn't ruin anything for me. If the show decided to take a stand, and stood by their decision without backing down under pressure, that would be so freakin' awesome, and no amount of controversy and yelling and screaming would ever ruin that.

Don't be afraid of controversy. If people yell and scream, you ignore them, you especially do not let them stop you from doing what is right or saying what's on your heart.

[Aotrs Commander]

If people yell and scream, you ignore them, you especially do not let them stop you from doing what is right or saying what's on your heart.

I always find the yelling and screaming is very useful, as it gives away their position so you can properly target your orbital bombardment. Plus those sort of people make the best funny noises when you stick 'em with sharp objects.

[Nameless]

I'm not sure who I think would be a better asexual candidate, maybe Pinkie?

Definitely not Twilight. That mare has something going on with Princess Celestia. e___o

[Deadly]

I always find the yelling and screaming is very useful, as it gives away their position so you can properly target your orbital bombardment. Plus those sort of people make the best funny noises when you stick 'em with sharp objects.

It's always fun to stoke the flames, but it's not usually very productive

Definitely not Twilight. That mare has something going on with Princess Celestia. e___o

Twilight definitely shouldn't be asexual, no. It might give the idea that she's asexual because she's sort of a bookish nerd and because of her past where she wasn't interested in friends. It could give the wrong idea.

[Nameless]

It's always fun to stoke the flames, but it's not usually very productive



Twilight definitely shouldn't be asexual, no. It might give the idea that she's asexual because she's sort of a bookish nerd and because of her past where she wasn't interested in friends. It could give the wrong idea.

I think Rarity should be asexual. NO ONE would see that coming.

[Deadly]

I think Rarity should be asexual. NO ONE would see that coming.

Yes, I think that might possibly work. I don't think it would even be all that surprising (asexual doesn't have to mean you don't want love). Pinkie would be surprising, because I've always suspected her of being pretty promiscuous. Sex is just another kind of fun, right?


Edit: And now I find it hard to imagine how you'd present an asexual pony in the show without touching on the subject of sex.

[Nameless]

Yes, I think that might possibly work. I don't think it would even be all that surprising (asexual doesn't have to mean you don't want love). Pinkie would be surprising, because I've always suspected her of being pretty promiscuous. Sex is just another kind of fun, right?


Edit: And now I find it hard to imagine how you'd present an asexual pony in the show without touching on the subject of sex.

Hey, kid's shows in the past have talked about drugs, STD's, smoking and alcohol... I don't see why sex would be out of the question.

[DigoDragon]

I've seen astonishing amounts of vitriol flung at all the previous-gen pony shows (some of which were actually quite good) and at the current iteration of Strawberry Shortcake, which was in the just-before-MLP timeslot in Season 2 and shared (shares? I haven't been keeping up on things...) several voice actors.

It's "shares" for the Strawberry Shortcake part. I find it boring since it doesn't have any villainy in it (What ever happened to the Purple Pie Man?), but if you close your eyes while listening to it, you can totally imagine the ponies talking.

That's pretty sad too.
You know its true what they say that these things tend to come in bunch.

In threes. They tend to come in threes.
My wife and I would group them by threes and be quite accurate to the point we recently stopped counting.

Rainbow Dash as a mother:

Spoiler

Show

I think this happens to every responsible parent at some point. The point where you realize you're stopping your kid from making the same boneheaded mistakes you did (because you know better) which makes you totally not you anymore.
Dashie'll get over it.

I'm half convinced that the nobles are too stuck up to notice. I mean there is a literal window dedicated to their victory not to mention the giant ceremony.
Make that two windows. Do they just not enter the throne room or something?

Reminds me of the movie Ghostbusters II, where Ray and Winston were doing kid birthday parties for work because while they saved New York in the last movie, their 15 minutes of fame ended and they were left broke and forgotten.

[Deadly]

Hey, kid's shows in the past have talked about drugs, STD's, smoking and alcohol... I don't see why sex would be out of the question.

Disney once made a cartoon about menstruation. It's true. A really old one, too.

But it's a tricky thing, and I'm not personally sure a show like FiM should talk about sex. I don't have a problem with kids learning about sex, I think they should, but it's sort of the parents' and/or teachers' job to do that. Also, it would easily change the whole mood and feeling of the show.

Having gay and even trans ponies would be easy, but I don't think you could present an asexual pony without things getting tricky and potentially hurting the show (not because of the controversy)

That said, the more I think about it, the more I agree that Rarity is definitely the best choice for an asexual pony. She's highly social, and we know she's interested in love, so she's a very positive image.

[DigoDragon]

What are the Equestrian equivalents of major spectator sports?

In the RPG I'm part of, Trixie mentioned once to the humans of a sport one of the royal courts played that was similar to the life-sized chess game seen in the movie "History of the World, Part 1". The object of the game was to get your king to the other side of the field before the other side does the same.
When asked how to play, Trixie admitted she didn't know how. She only showed up to pass around her business cards.

Oh dear, seems someone has been creating fake Lauren Faust quotes in an attempt to troll people. And by the sounds of it, it worked :/

Apparently they forgot the part where Lauren doesn't do much of anything for the show anymore. But yeah, it's getting rediculously easy to confuse people on the internet.
I read This article a few days ago how, as an experiment, one can make up something barely plausable and it gets taken as fact by the media and the public. Scary!

But it's a tricky thing, and I'm not personally sure a show like FiM should talk about sex. I don't have a problem with kids learning about sex, I think they should, but it's sort of the parents' and/or teachers' job to do that. Also, it would easily change the whole mood and feeling of the show.
Having gay and even trans ponies would be easy, but I don't think you could present an asexual pony without things getting tricky and potentially hurting the show (not because of the controversy)

Yeah, I agree. Adding episodes about girlfriends, sex, gays, etc. would change the feel of the show. For myself, I like watching the show for the girls confronting and overcoming adversarial issues (i.e. Return of Harmony, Dragonshy) and for just being their silly selves (i.e. Lesson Zero, Look Before You Sleep).
Controvercial issues might be out of place for something that's really based on selling a toy line.

[Aotrs Commander]

It's always fun to stoke the flames, but it's not usually very productive

But making corpses is always productive...! It's like, in our regulations or something. Animated Undead so useful for doing all those little thing you just can't be arsed to do yourself!

Besides, it's not like I really need much of an excuse to kill people, is it? 'Cos Evil, y'know?

[Beacon of Chaos]

Good catches. Thanks.

Spoiler

Show

Yup, that's the gist of it. You didn't suspect this from chapter 1? If so I can imagine that made this chapter a little harder to catch up on than otherwise. It is a little tricky, but I expect now that you know there are two perspectives going on it's going to be easier. The sooner people catch up on that, the better.

There's going to be some amount of switching back and forth, mostly here at the beginning I expect.

II Discussion

Spoiler

Show

...Oooooh. Okay. Two Dashes, hence the title, II.

Yeah, I had no idea what was going on. I read the entirety of chapter 2 assuming that Dash was still at Luna's castle, or whatever, and had just been moved to another area. I did wonder about why her heart was beating again, or why her leg was broken (I thought it'd been fixed in chapter 1) but I just shrugged it off and figured it would be explained later.

Fridge Logic: If Dash can't breathe, how does she talk? Perhaps a silly question considering she shouldn't even be alive, but that's what I thought of first.

Terror Attack-3

Spoiler

Show

Dear Twilight,

Tonight we were sent in to protect a city named Delhi. The aliens had launched an attack so we headed off as soon as we could since we were the closer squad. Unfortantly we arrived at night. It was a horrible mess. We could barely see and the town was so crowded and smelt so bad. The humans were screaming in terror and pain as we moved through.

We moved slowly to avoid ambushes and when we spotted a cyberdisc tank we shot at it. Next thing we know the whole building explodes in a gigantic fireball! Needless to say the tank was utterly destroyed. Later we noticed some aliens hiding in a similar building so we blew that one up too! Honestly what kind of civilization designs it's buildings to explode?

The mission finished up when we spotted a pair of disc tanks close together behind the ruins of one of the exploding buildings. Everypony shot at them but they managed to destroy our tank first. Spike Spruce and I moved in and finished them off with a pair of grenades.

In other news the human's took away Spitfire's autocannon. With how broken up she seemed it was like they told her she could never fly again! Honestly I'm glad. Spitfire can barely move at all lugging that giant thing around and even though she got a few good shots off it really does belong with a stronger pony. Also I hear word that our two bases will be trading some ponies soon. Something about making sure each base had a high ranking officer.

Sincerely,

Rarity Unicorn

I hate night missions. Had to do so many resets due to the stupid deaths I'd get since I couldn't see the aliens. Also I'm finding it pretty funny that Rarity can't seem to complete a mission without losing a tank.

I just reinstalled the game and started a new campaign. I admire your willingness to never let a pony die. I lost 3 of my OotS members in the first mission and couldn't be bothered to redo it.

2nd mission: Terror attack in Japan. Everybody died, except V, who ran away in fear. I think I'll redo that one.


Random image dump:
First up, Celestia/Luna images.

Spoiler

Show

Night time images:

Spoiler

Show

Arachnophobia warning!

Spoiler

Show

And lastly, a large but funny comic.

Spoiler

Show

[SiuiS]

Wow. Haven't had a post dump out on me while I was typing it in a while.

I would like to point out again, the how is founded on confronting controversial issues in a wise and even-hoofed manner. Adding in something that is already in the show, ie romance and all it involves, wouldn't change the tone at all, unless they did a piss-poor job. And we got Discord and Canterlot wedding, two stories that could have gone a LOT more south than they did. I would personally continue to trust the writers.


Deadly: shipping TwiLestia huh? ;)


Itoo would like to see an asexual Rarity. It fits her "ewww, that's icky" personality. Plus explains how she is so productive XD

[Deadly]

Yeah, I agree. Adding episodes about girlfriends, sex, gays, etc. would change the feel of the show. For myself, I like watching the show for the girls confronting and overcoming adversarial issues (i.e. Return of Harmony, Dragonshy) and for just being their silly selves (i.e. Lesson Zero, Look Before You Sleep).
Controvercial issues might be out of place for something that's really based on selling a toy line.

I don't see a problem with controversial things in general if it's done well. Having, say, an episode about Sweetie Belle falling in love with Silver Spoon and learning that she's not so bad when Diamond Tiara isn't around would be fine. It sure would be controversial, but it wouldn't be any different than Hearts and Hooves Day.

Homosexuality or transsexuality doesn't have to have anything to do with sex, it could just be about love or being different which is perfectly fine for a show like this (aside from the controversy). But asexuality is a different challenge.

But making corpses is always productive...! It's like, in our regulations or something. Animated Undead so useful for doing all those little thing you just can't be arsed to do yourself!

Besides, it's not like I really need much of an excuse to kill people, is it? 'Cos Evil, y'know?

Good point, sir. But I have to wonder if corpses are as satisfying workers as living ones. I mean, zombies don't complain about their treatment, or suffer horribly because of what you force them to do day in and day out. Living workers who slave away for minimal or no pay must be a lot more fun if you're evil.

II Discussion

Spoiler

Show

...Oooooh. Okay. Two Dashes, hence the title, II.

Yeah, I had no idea what was going on. I read the entirety of chapter 2 assuming that Dash was still at Luna's castle, or whatever, and had just been moved to another area. I did wonder about why her heart was beating again, or why her leg was broken (I thought it'd been fixed in chapter 1) but I just shrugged it off and figured it would be explained later.

Fridge Logic: If Dash can't breathe, how does she talk? Perhaps a silly question considering she shouldn't even be alive, but that's what I thought of first.

Spoiler

Show

I can see that might be a problem. Do you have any ideas for how I could maybe clue in people at the start of the chapter, if they didn't catch it in chapter 1?

And yeah, how she talks is a mystery. She even wonders about that herself at one point. It's just one of those things where 'magic' seems like a good answer

Deadly: shipping TwiLestia huh? ;)

Twilestia is a great ship, but right now I prefer TwiDash

[Beacon of Chaos]

Spoiler

Show

I can see that might be a problem. Do you have any ideas for how I could maybe clue in people at the start of the chapter, if they didn't catch it in chapter 1?

And yeah, how she talks is a mystery. She even wonders about that herself at one point. It's just one of those things where 'magic' seems like a good answer

II

Spoiler

Show

Perhaps something to let the reader know that chapter 2 is happening at the same time as the latter part of chapter 1? Something like adding a "Meanwhile..." to the beginning of chapter 2, but less clunky. Maybe some kind of event that you can mention twice, once before each Dash wakes up? I'll let you know if I think of anything that could work.

Twilestia is a great ship, but right now I prefer TwiDash

Y'know, I honestly think that Twilight ships with everything. All the mane 6, both princesses, villains, background ponies... no wonder she and Dash are perfect for each other.

[Soras Teva Gee]

My only problem with Twilestia is I don't think Twilight chooses between Day or Night.

OT3 OT3 OT3!

(This is all if I shipped. Which I don't. Really. All the Mane Six are straight but uninterested, so romance is not the point. But that's all no fun at all)

[SynissterSyster]

Heh I got a fun ship for Twi after reading a story on FiM. It won't be original but will sitll be cute.

[One Tin Soldier]

Heh I got a fun ship for Twi after reading a story on FiM. It won't be original but will sitll be cute.

What ship would that be?

[SynissterSyster]

DeLight, Derpy x Twilight. I read it in a very awesome story about Twilight learning about pegasi social behavior. It is very well written imo. I noticed how some ships seem to get used a lot so I am aiming in my first fic to mix it up some. I figure some will be wtf material but that will make it all the more fun.

[Aotrs Commander]

IGood point, sir. But I have to wonder if corpses are as satisfying workers as living ones. I mean, zombies don't complain about their treatment, or suffer horribly because of what you force them to do day in and day out. Living workers who slave away for minimal or no pay must be a lot more fun if you're evil.

Well, in fairness, animated Undead are only suited for very simple taks that domn't require any brainpower (because, y'know, mindless). But janitorial duties are usually within the level of capability, as is fetching any carrying; aside from that you have to pretty much micromanage.

(Of course, a really good necromancer can use spirit-binding to bind you into an animated Undead and be as utterly helpless as if in a stone of something, where you can spent the rest of eternity cleaning up with a mop. Though personally, I tend not to bother with it myself, but Aotrs legend has it there are quite a few skeletons in Fearmore that are of ex-adventurers that refused Lord Death Despoil's reasonable requests...)



@Giant Discord Vrs Trixie comic

*snerk*

Actually, that ain't half a bad plan.

(Of course, making flour disappear also takes out bread - and presumably grain crops in order to make their be no flour - which would likely rapidly lead to widespread starvation, assuming it was more than a one-time instance. Though even that could cause serious problems, as I don't know how long it would take to recoup the loss. If it took until next harvast... See above.

It'd also work in many other situations, too, not just Equestria.)

[PhantomFox]

Nyeh. The Twilight / Celestia relationship has strong vibes of Mother/Daughter to me. Twi frets about Celestia in a "Mom's gonna KILL ME!" kind of way.

[DigoDragon]

Apple-pickin' weather. I was all geared up for a tropical storm holiday and then at the last minute the thing vears off and leaves me going into work in rainy conditions where there's no work to be had*.

So, bored pony time!

Spoiler

Show

And lastly, a large but funny comic.

Spoiler

Show

Heh, that was worth quite a few chuckles. Perfectly timed facial expressions.


*I do realize that I'm essentially being paid to just sit here, but I could be home doing some art projects that would Both make money And be productive.

[Lix Lorn]

If you believe in the sanctity of the natural order enough for undeath to be a problem, then well, anything that deviates from the norm is just as backwards. And while an interesting road for a fantasy game or story, I just argued against that. I require at least three pages between my hypocrisies, so it's not quite so apparent!

Actually, that would be a Pretry interesting bent. Heroes jump in and the undead are all like "hey, man! What gives?"

I am a staunch advocate of undeath as not evil. My single favourite piece of homebrew ever is an example, and I have a race which is an example...

[Thanqol]

I have been trying literally all day to be insightful in response to some of the discussions happening in this thread.

Seriously, I must have written over 2000 words.

Unfortunately I'm self-aware enough to realise that what I was basically saying was this:

[thubby]

you spent 2000 words on pony and yet you dont write anymore?
s'matter wit chu'?

[Thanqol]

you spent 2000 words on pony and yet you dont write anymore?
s'matter wit chu'?

I do write. Today I wrote 2000 words of garbage.

And the matter wit' me is that next year I have to get a job and move out of my mom's basement and I'd like to at least be heading in a direction where I'd get paid for writing. Pony is a bit of a financial dead end.

[Deadly]

I have been trying literally all day to be insightful in response to some of the discussions happening in this thread.

Seriously, I must have written over 2000 words.

Unfortunately I'm self-aware enough to realise that what I was basically saying was this:

That sums up about every discussion in this thread. Never stopped us before

[Soras Teva Gee]

Well, in fairness, animated Undead are only suited for very simple taks that domn't require any brainpower (because, y'know, mindless). But janitorial duties are usually within the level of capability, as is fetching any carrying; aside from that you have to pretty much micromanage.

I tend to think brainless abominations would make poor janitors.

I mean to get the rob done right one actually has to think to say mix the cleaning agents properly, put up the appropriate signs in the appropriate location, not mop oneself into a corner and then track footprints all over. To say nothing of vaccuuming which can require varying degrees of assembly not to mention properly emptying it. Dusting an entirely differnt set of skills. Judging whether trash cans are full, and cleaning up with someone say shoved a drink cup in there with the straw still in it so it poked through the bag springing a leak. And of course when it inevitably gets overfull and breaks on the way to the dumpster. While certainly one could use them as puppets so you don't need to get your own hands dirty but still going to have to supervise constantly.

Or one just has low standards as to what constitutes clean.

Which come to think of it, is probably why so many necromancers end up in ruins and dusty tombs.

[One Tin Soldier]

DeLight, Derpy x Twilight. I read it in a very awesome story about Twilight learning about pegasi social behavior. It is very well written imo. I noticed how some ships seem to get used a lot so I am aiming in my first fic to mix it up some. I figure some will be wtf material but that will make it all the more fun.

Oh yeah, Mood Wings. I enjoyed that one, it's one of the fics that has more or less entirely entered my headcanon.
Though I am curious how you will write Derpy to make them in compatible in any significant way.