My Little Pony LII: 525.600 Ponies!

[thubby]

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.

but i want more thanqol!
*shakes violently*

[Aotrs Commander]

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.

Yes and no. It falls under the same sort of principles that allow animated Undead to wield weapons and function as combatants. Good combatants? No - but they can still wield weapons effectively (and by which I mean, "as if they had some basic training"). Or, for that matter, do anything. Like animal instincts, there is a certain basic level of "programming" in an animation spell that allows them to operate at all.

Our necromancy spells, having been research,ed upgraded and improved over the Aotrs two-thousand year history, are, perforce, as advanced as our technology, so there is quite a bit more stuff in the "programming" in the our animation spells which allows more levels of automation: animated Undead are more akin to negative-energy powered crude contructs/robots, after all. We can thus get a lot more operational utility out of our animation spells than you would out of something more akin to a D&D wizard.

The problem is that while it's relatively easy to increase the breadth of "programming" it's much harder (and more power-consuming) to increase the quality of it, which is why animated Undead are still pretty awful combatants compared to a well-trained individual. But, as all it takes to create one is some mana and a few seconds, it doesn't matter. (I won't go into too much more detail, since a) it's off-topic and b) getting right down into the complex technical details of magical theory, which woudl require extremely long-winded explanation so you could even have the ground work to know what I was on about.)



In truth, most of our proper janitorial work in Bleak Despair and the like is done, like most other folk, with robots and drones. Fearmore, being the capital world, and with the Citadel itself, doesn't require such stringeant maintainance, hence the rumours. I must restate that it is Aotrs myth; I can't say for certain whether or not it's true. But given the size of the Citadel, and the age of it (and what happened during our takeover to most of the life to make it what it is today), I think it's very possible that it's true; in the dark and unused, mostly-forgotten and infrequently-trod depths of the catacombs, beyond the point in which modern technology has infiltrated. (Certainly I do know that the livings in the Citadel are warned not to wander unprepared into the deepest and oldest parts, where there are non-Aotrs Undead that would...react badly... to their presence.)

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I love that Discord's showing-off-glowing-hand-mystical-power thing is like basically a swirling thingy of random objects.

Bwahahahahahaha!

[Tiki Snakes]

See, you're looking too far into it. It's seriously just a dragon skeleton.

Also, the whole "in death is an abomination" is one of those things that falls apart under scrutiny. It's an abomination against what? Nature? In a universe where it can occur naturally? It's blasphemy, against... What, exactly? You could say most burial rituals stem, specifically, from attempts to prevent undeath. So it's not like it's implicitly against any specific religious system, even in D&D games that try to make gods who dislike undeath.

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?"

Well, in most universes it isn't really something that occurs naturally. Usually it traces back to an ancient curse, a mad wizard or something along those lines. Naturally occuring zombies are a thing in some universes, sure, but theres a difference between a zombie dragon or a dragon-skeleton and a Dracolich (usually).

Dracolich's are usually much worse news, but also much more thematically grim. It's not uncommon for becoming a dracolich to be something that is done to a dragon, after all.

As for what makes the undead an abomination, well, that varies but the simple answer is the whole entropy, life cycle, themodynamics thing, as well as the spirital side of the equation for example, being soul-less, or being walking wounds in the fabric of reality, or so on. Undead are often dangerously, wantonly destructive, cruel or debauched too, which is a factor.

Not that I consider Undead to be innately evil or anything. At least in part because I'm not sure I believe there is any such thing as Evil per say, but also because it's too easy to conceptualise exceptions. See the many Tragic-Vampire-With-Soul archetypes, or Reg Shoe (depending on your taste in examples).

Conversely, see Mage the Awakening. Specifically the Abyss.
If you widen the definition of Natural too far, then you are left with considering the thing part of nature, and given what it is and what it causes, that's...an interesting philosophy.

[Deadly]

Chapter 2 of II now published, hopefully with some improvement

[Merellis]

So apparently Veggie55 is finished with Pony Comics.

And if I've ruined your day with that, then I must apologize and toss up a few things in return.

What Luna did on the moon for 1000 years

Pinkie Pie and Berry Bubble Singing Telegram Duet

[DigoDragon]

I tend to think brainless abominations would make poor janitors.

I can attest to this! Years back in an RPG, I watched the party mages yell at a zombie to go clean the kitchen. The brainless thing decided to pour ammonia and bleach undiluted into a bucket to begin mopping the floor.

I love that Discord's showing-off-glowing-hand-mystical-power thing is like basically a swirling thingy of random objects.

LOL! Double-funny when my first thought was that the soda cup is the most explosive object in that swirl. Nice ending too.

[Anarion]

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.

xkcd again provides an appropriate response. Notably, that the yelling and screaming people always seem to get into positions where they can control what other people do. Why do we keep letting them do that?

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.

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

I do think one has to be careful with controversial things. Done well in some cases means making it so obscure that only people who are really paying attention and analyzing will even realize that something might be up. Because there are certain issues where, if you mention them explicitly, they subsume the entire work and nobody pays any attention to anything except the controversial issue. Unfortunately, I think that same-sex relationships may fall in that category where gender issues do not. Even though they both should be addressed, one is like poking a hornet's nest, the other is like walking up to the hornet's nest naked and slathered with honey and poking it over and over while hoping for a good result.

@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.)

Rice and potatoes seem like they'd solve most of the problem. Rice pudding also covers at least a bit of the dessert issue.

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:

I like your new signature quote

Now, have an awesome picture of Derpy

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[Nameless]

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.

I wouldn't really want the show to talk about relationships or "alternative" sexualities either. But I wouldn't mind them simply being there like other couples/relationships we've seen in the show. As far as asexuality goes, I kind of see them all as asexual until proven otherwise, and I would assume younger audiences don't think about it much either, so that's sort of fine in that respect.
Although, in many ways, the only ponies we know for sure that aren't asexual are Mr and Mrs Cake, since they had babies.

...but right now I prefer TwiDash

This is just sick and wrong.

Everypony knows that Dash and Pinkie both want Fluttershy, but Dash also kind of has a thing for Pinkie. :I

[Tvtyrant]

Back to shipping, are we?

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Dash's boyfriend bothers me because of my fears of how he will be introduced. Other than Spike there are no major male characters, so it is unlikely IMO that it will be a male that we already know. My fear is that they will pull a Shining Armor, and he will suddenly be introduced with something along the lines of "Dash is dating Tom!!???!!one."

[Gamerlord]

Back to shipping, are we?

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Dash's boyfriend bothers me because of my fears of how he will be introduced. Other than Spike there are no major male characters, so it is unlikely IMO that it will be a male that we already know. My fear is that they will pull a Shining Armor, and he will suddenly be introduced with something along the lines of "Dash is dating Tom!!???!!one."

You,uh, do know she isn't actually getting one as far as we know, right?

[Tvtyrant]

You,uh, do know she isn't actually getting one as far as we know, right?

I was not aware. A bunch of ponies posted it all over the web, and I basically stopped paying attention because I was disappointed that dating would come up in the main show.

[Lix Lorn]

but i want more thanqol!
*shakes violently*

Don't we all? (swoons)

[Luka]

Back to shipping, are we?

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Dash's boyfriend bothers me because of my fears of how he will be introduced. Other than Spike there are no major male characters, so it is unlikely IMO that it will be a male that we already know. My fear is that they will pull a Shining Armor, and he will suddenly be introduced with something along the lines of "Dash is dating Tom!!???!!one."

Of all the ships I've seen, the only one I've approved was Rainbow Dash x Soarin

[Strife Warzeal]

Of all the ships I've seen, the only one I've approved was Rainbow Dash x Soarin

You also seem to be a fan of Rainbow Dash X Luka.

[SiuiS]

Well, in most universes it isn't really something that occurs naturally. Usually it traces back to an ancient curse, a mad wizard or something along those lines. Naturally occuring zombies are a thing in some universes, sure, but theres a difference between a zombie dragon or a dragon-skeleton and a Dracolich (usually).

Dracolich's are usually much worse news, but also much more thematically grim. It's not uncommon for becoming a dracolich to be something that is done to a dragon, after all.

As for what makes the undead an abomination, well, that varies but the simple answer is the whole entropy, life cycle, themodynamics thing, as well as the spirital side of the equation for example, being soul-less, or being walking wounds in the fabric of reality, or so on. Undead are often dangerously, wantonly destructive, cruel or debauched too, which is a factor.

Not that I consider Undead to be innately evil or anything. At least in part because I'm not sure I believe there is any such thing as Evil per say, but also because it's too easy to conceptualise exceptions. See the many Tragic-Vampire-With-Soul archetypes, or Reg Shoe (depending on your taste in examples).

Conversely, see Mage the Awakening. Specifically the Abyss.
If you widen the definition of Natural too far, then you are left with considering the thing part of nature, and given what it is and what it causes, that's...an interesting philosophy.

The definition of the abyss is "a not natural thing which causes all bad things". It's not really relevant. It's the one 'unnatural' event/place I've ever seen that handles itself correctly. A correct rebuttal to any attempt to rules lawyer it is "nah, it's the abyss"

[Soras Teva Gee]

Yes and no. It falls under the same sort of principles that allow animated Undead to wield weapons and function as combatants.

That was my point, I consider doing a decent job the more complex task.

Full service janitorial work requires more discerning judgement and occasionally some creativity. Attack routines just need to hit a the target until it is dead, maybe have a random varying of basic maneuvers for spice, and some IFF enchantments best tied to a marker of some kind. Janitorial work requires your undead realize that no the normal mop will not eliminate the spilled brains for the sacrifice meatloaf and they need first sweep up the bits then spot clean the area with appropriate spray bottle.

Its why I prefer hired fairies for my cleaning work. The right types live for it just as long as you put up with their admittedly arcane labor union rules. But they certainly get the job done.

[thubby]

I like your new signature quote

Now, have an awesome picture of Derpy

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eyes are too straight. it must be her evil twin, ditzy!

[Merellis]

This is just sick and wrong.

Everypony knows that Dash and Pinkie both want Fluttershy, but Dash also kind of has a thing for Pinkie. :I

That's a weird way to explain Twilight Sparkles love for the pink party pony.

Doesn't help that I also ship Applejack and Pinkie Pie together, thank Celestia for alternate universes.

And on another note, WHY CAN'T I STOP LISTENING TO THESE? Duets everywhere

[Anarion]

The definition of the abyss is "a not natural thing which causes all bad things". It's not really relevant. It's the one 'unnatural' event/place I've ever seen that handles itself correctly. A correct rebuttal to any attempt to rules lawyer it is "nah, it's the abyss"

First, the abyss, at least when combined with the mortal world, does indeed follow rules. Maybe the abyss as a metaphorical concept can do anything, but "what can I do to stop this?" is a reasonable question when faced with an abyssal manifestation, and often has an answer of some sort or other. Ergo, cause and effect works and the manifestation follows rules. (Although a manifestation that did not follow cause and effect would be an interesting mage problem).

Second, unnatural comes with two connotations. One is "artificial" and the other is "wrong." You have to differentiate them. When people say that undead are unnatural but don't take a position as to other artificially created things, they're not being hypocritical, they're using the word unnatural to mean "wrong." Why undead would be considered wrong varies. You could go really deep and suggest that the use of negative energy increases chaos in the universe in some generalized way that is bad, or you could just point out that many undead are soulless killing machines and all the sentient ones have a definite bent towards capital E Evil.

Its why I prefer hired fairies for my cleaning work. The right types live for it just as long as you put up with their admittedly arcane labor union rules. But they certainly get the job done.

Nothing like a few glamour pledges to get all your cleaning and cooking and repair work done, right?

eyes are too straight. it must be her evil twin, ditzy!

Oh no! What should we do?!

[Aotrs Commander]

Rice and potatoes seem like they'd solve most of the problem. Rice pudding also covers at least a bit of the dessert issue.

It all depends on how much the society already has and uses those (we don't know if Equestria has rice... do we?) - and for how long the vanishing is (i.e. whether it's a permenant effect, or merely vanished all existing stock).

But a lot of fantasy worlds have neither rice nor potatoes (being pseudo-medieval) (Middle-Earth being an exception, though frack knows who the Hobbits got their taters...!) Potatoes, of course, are a more modern (or at least post-Medieval) staple.

You'd probably bugger, I dunno, Faerun or somewhere up something rotten, though, especially if you timed it right. (Timing would depend whether you just wanted to screw with people or cause a major disaster, as to whether you'd do it just before or just after the harvast.)

I'll grant you, it probably wouldn't be effective somewhere where rice is a major diet component (Japan or something); of course, arguably in those instances, you'd vanish rice instead maybe.

[thubby]

Oh no! What should we do?!

there is only 1 solution. round up a posse, and bring pies
after her!

[Anarion]

there is only 1 solution. round up a posse, and bring pies
after her!

Oh, you know what's interesting. When Twilight ducks as Philomena gets out of the cage, the bowl of tomato soup flips and falls over. Now, the falling over I can understand, since Twilight flinched and stopped her magic. But why did it flip? Could unicorn magic be related to how the unicorn moves her body?

[thubby]

Oh, you know what's interesting. When Twilight ducks as Philomena gets out of the cage, the bowl of tomato soup flips and falls over. Now, the falling over I can understand, since Twilight flinched and stopped her magic. But why did it flip? Could unicorn magic be related to how the unicorn moves her body?

or it wasnt a clean disconnect. a lot like a flinch or hand recoiling, i dont think the magic just stop uniformly or all at once.
so she got startled, mishandled the spell, and catapulted the soup.

[Tiki Snakes]

The definition of the abyss is "a not natural thing which causes all bad things". It's not really relevant. It's the one 'unnatural' event/place I've ever seen that handles itself correctly. A correct rebuttal to any attempt to rules lawyer it is "nah, it's the abyss"

If I'm parsing my World-Of-Darkness Setting knowledge right, there's only one thing that is *known* about the Abyss, really. That it is kind of between the Supernal Realms and the Fallen world. Everything else, like the rest of the backstory, is wildly contradictory conjecture and quite possibly lies.

Which is to say, "It's simply a naturally occurring cosmic phenoma" is just as possible as any other explanation of what it is.

First, the abyss, at least when combined with the mortal world, does indeed follow rules. Maybe the abyss as a metaphorical concept can do anything, but "what can I do to stop this?" is a reasonable question when faced with an abyssal manifestation, and often has an answer of some sort or other. Ergo, cause and effect works and the manifestation follows rules. (Although a manifestation that did not follow cause and effect would be an interesting mage problem).

Second, unnatural comes with two connotations. One is "artificial" and the other is "wrong." You have to differentiate them. When people say that undead are unnatural but don't take a position as to other artificially created things, they're not being hypocritical, they're using the word unnatural to mean "wrong." Why undead would be considered wrong varies. You could go really deep and suggest that the use of negative energy increases chaos in the universe in some generalized way that is bad, or you could just point out that many undead are soulless killing machines and all the sentient ones have a definite bent towards capital E Evil.

Or, you know, this.

Edit - It always comes back to shipping, eventually.

[Alabenson]

I was not aware. A bunch of ponies posted it all over the web, and I basically stopped paying attention because I was disappointed that dating would come up in the main show.

What happened is someone posing as Faust posted that, and a huge number of bronies bought it before it was revealed to be a prank.
Just proof that not all trolls are as enjoyable as Tara Strong.

[Strife Warzeal]

What happened is someone posing as Faust posted that, and a huge number of bronies bought it before it was revealed to be a prank.

It's a bit different than what you said, for emphasis here's a picture:

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I mean, just look at what they said, it must be true.

Clever editing and screenshots can make anything seem possible.

[Luka]

You also seem to be a fan of Rainbow Dash X Luka.

Wouldn't you be if suddenly the best pony appears when you're dreaming then you take the place of Soarin in this?

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really, who wouldn't? and as far as Alabenson goes, that's being lucky, even more if it's been for 3 weeks

But yeah.... Kinda a fan of that one too (and missing those dreams ), but for canon characters I approve of SoarinDash


...Ugh, has anyone noticed some effect after seeing the Wonderbolts/Shadowbolts' outfits, prolonged optical exposition to them seems to program the brain to make one think they're.... saucy in the "nothing at all" sense?

really just....look, really

[Tvtyrant]

It's a bit different than what you said, for emphasis here's a picture:

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I mean, just look at what they said, it must be true.

Clever editing and screenshots can make anything seem possible.

Seems like a legitimate picture to me I kid of course.

[Strife Warzeal]

...Ugh, has anyone noticed some effect after seeing the Wonderbolts/Shadowbolts' outfits, prolonged optical exposition to them seems to program the brain to make one think they're.... saucy in the "nothing at all" sense?

really just....look, really

I think I see what you mean.

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[One Tin Soldier]

That's a weird way to explain Twilight Sparkles love for the pink party pony.

Doesn't help that I also ship Applejack and Pinkie Pie together, thank Celestia for alternate universes.

And on another note, WHY CAN'T I STOP LISTENING TO THESE? Duets everywhere

This has made me curious. Moar linx pls?