Ponythread LV:55 Ponythread learns Agility!

[Anarion]

Though for a more family friendly one I think seeing Phoe's little FlutterDash trilogy would be awesome. As narrated by Phoe of course.

Yep, I'd pay for this. Phoe has a great future in narration, she just doesn't know it yet. Next Morgan Freeman, imo.

Though let's say Hasbro actually did make an episode based off of your fanfiction.

Would you sue them?

Personally I wouldn't. I would ask for recognition in the writing but I wouldn't care about the money since I didn't expect any money in the first place. If they refused to recognize me, well that would upset me and I'd point out my original work all over the internet, but I still wouldn't sue them.

Really? That's very nice of you to donate them a couple million dollars for stealing your work. I mean, if they asked permission first, you might give it to them just to see your work made, sure. But if they actually did it without asking, I'd sue them.

Eight minute preview of The Crystal Empire. *SPOILERS*

So many spoilers in there.
General comments

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That's a lot of stuff going on. Aside from getting the whole season 3 background story (including CelestiaxLuna double rainbow blast!) we also get that Celestia is planning something for Twilight (and Luna is in on it but maybe disagrees with it) and that apparently the Crystal Empire has some kind of general influence that can reach the rest of Equestria. Also that Celestia can put on one heck of a light show when she feels like it.

My take on Luna is concerned that Celestia is pushing Twilight too hard. I think she probably agreed with Twilight's "what if I fail?" question and gave Twilight that stern look because she wanted Twilight to be nervous despite Celestia's reassurance. The fact that she thought she herself should go and Celestia nixed it also indicates that she has doubts about the capability of Shining+Cadence+Twilight to handle this situation.

Given my playing so much X-com, I'm going to make a comparison here. In X-com, sometimes you send out a rookie and leave back your most experienced colonel because you're training up that new unit and you think the mission is easy enough that you won't need the high-ranking soldier. I think that's what Celestia is doing here, giving Twilight a chance to get experience so that she'll progress towards whatever master plan Celestia has for her.

Response specifically to Deadly

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I don't think Celestia's plan is clear from this video, but I'm curious why you have such a negative reaction to the idea of Twilight becoming a princess. Forget the presence or absence of wings for a second, just assume that Celestia and Luna will pass away eventually and are grooming a successor. Is that a problem for you? Is it Twilight specifically that's the issue? I don't find the idea of Twilight being groomed for rule an issue myself, so I'd like to understand why it bothers you.

Response to Pendulous

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So, the elements. There are several possibilities here to make the story interesting. One, Sombra has been rainbow-blasted once already. Could be he's prepared for it a second time. Given the traditional associations of shadow being somewhat ephemeral, I would suggest one possibility is that actually pinning him down in a location to target him with the elements could be a challenge. Preparing the proper situation to use the god Macguffin is a pretty good story.

Of course, the more obvious line to take here is that Celestia's instruction that Twilight needs to do this by herself indicates both that this isn't an elements of harmony level threat and that Twilight shouldn't even consider bringing the elements because using them would cause her to fail the test.

[Deadly]

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Well, Shining Armor and Cadence are there for a reason, and the only reason I mention the Elements, is because I've stopped believing these ancient evils can be solved by a party pony and a fashionista, know what I mean? A basically deity sends a group of friends to save the world. I don't WANT them to use the Elements, because of the Sailor Moon principle, but at this point, there's really no other reason to justify how they handle these big conflicts.

S3

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Oh, I don't know ... let's go with a LotR kind of plot, and say that the way to break the curse is to break the Chrystal Heart (probably not, given what kind of metaphor that is, but let's just go with it anyway) ...

Twilight learns of this through her superior intellect and concocts an ingenious plan.

They need to get into a heavily guarded place to find the Heart. Rarity uses her skill to disguise them to that end.

Then they learn that the Heart is enchanted and can not be destroyed by any magic or material. Iron shatters against it, magic is useless ... until Pinkie eats it, because it's really made of sugar ... it's a sugar crystal heart. And that was the one thing Sombra left out when he enchanted it, Old Norse Balder-style

Alright, probably silly and needs work, but that's the kind of silly adventure I'd love to see them pull off one day. May never happen, but one can hope.

[Merellis]

Moonstuck Spoilers

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It's on now!

Go go Celestia and Luna!

[otakuryoga]

Militarised unicorns...
...
Fire Lord Rarity is the prettiest.

Wait, then what are non-benders?

Blank Flanks of course..

Eight minutes of an episode is well beyond where I draw the line for spoilers. Guess I won't be clicking any spoiler boxes for the next couple days.

my feelings in a nutshell...which means 11 days of not opening any spoilers here 8(

[Deadly]

Response specifically to Deadly

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I don't think Celestia's plan is clear from this video, but I'm curious why you have such a negative reaction to the idea of Twilight becoming a princess. Forget the presence or absence of wings for a second, just assume that Celestia and Luna will pass away eventually and are grooming a successor. Is that a problem for you? Is it Twilight specifically that's the issue? I don't find the idea of Twilight being groomed for rule an issue myself, so I'd like to understand why it bothers you.

S3 maybe

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If it doesn't involve growing wings, that makes it a great deal better, I will admit. That is without doubt my main concern, that they're going to give her wings.

That (getting wings) would bother me for two reasons in particular:

First, and most importantly, it would completely set her apart from her friends and make her more than them, more than she already is by being the princess' personal student and the most magical unicorn possibly ever. Only RD has the slightest hope of being on the same level as her, as it is. If she becomes an alicorn it only sets her further apart from them.

Second, it cheapens alicorns, even more so if the first point was countered by all her friends becoming alicorns (that'd be just plain awful beyond imagination.) I've always felt that being an alicorn ought to be something special. You descend from an ancient line of alicorns, or something, you don't just randomly become one for saving Equestria a few times. For that you become a hero, sure, not an alicorn.


Now, that wasn't your question ... but even without getting wings, it's much the same concerns.

1. It'd cheapen what it means to be a princess. This is made more difficult by the fact that we seem to have a few levels of royal-ness. I mean, technically Shining is probably a prince now, right? But he's not exactly on the same level as Celestia and Luna, nor is Cadance, even, from what I can tell at least. If Twilight becomes a princess in the sense that she is to replace Celestia and Luna, that'd be something entirely different than her marrying a prince, or getting a small piece of Equestria to rule. Wings or not, replacing Celestia and Luna would be a huge thing!

2. It'd set her apart from her friends, especially if we're talking about her replacing Celestia and Luna. The prospect of RD becoming a Wonderbolt is already a major thing, and that'd be nowhere near the same as Twilight becoming a princess like Celestia and Luna.

And

3. Celestia and Luna passing/going away would be majorly sad. I don't want them to go anywhere. Well, maybe a vacation, but that's the subject of a single episode, not a permanent and huge thing like Twilight becoming a princess.

4. I don't think I like the idea of Twilight ruling anything. I like the innocence of her just being another pony with her friends. Sure, a hero and a very important pony, but I don't want her to be a noble, or anything else of the sort. It's the same reason I don't like the idea that her family is nobility.


I think another problem is that every ruler is either a prince or a princess, unless they're evil in which case it's King or Queen. Blueblood should have been a Duke, Cadance probably should have been a Duchess or something too, or she should have been a princess while Celestia and Luna are Queens. And possibly Duchess would be a better fit for Twilight as well. Although see #4 again.

[Lix Lorn]

That's not exactly peculiar to them. I know people have been speculating that in various forms since I joined the Herd at least.

That's been my headcanon for ages. I reckon the same for all the mane six.

So, totally uninformed guess on S3 discussion:

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Maybe the "next level" of studies is for Twilight to take on a student of her own to teach friendship to?

...

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Perhaps someone who really needs the tuition, like trixie...

[Tiki Snakes]

my feelings in a nutshell...which means 11 days of not opening any spoilers here 8(

I haven't been able to safely open any but the most obviously labelled spoilers for Weeks.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Eight minute preview of The Crystal Empire. *SPOILERS*

Okay... after finally calming down I'm ready to give my thoughts:

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! CELESTIA YOU ARE SO COOL!



*ahem*

Anyway...

Sooo yeah. Pumped for this.

Don't know if there's much else I can say that hasn't been mentioned. Funniest moment was Spike getting crushed by Magical Compendium vols. 1-36, with Pinkie's time-reversal as a close second.

Luna looked soooo pissed off during this. My personal theory is simply that she wants to be the heroine, like she used to be before NMM, but Celestia won't let her. I want her to have another episode, where she takes up the good name of Mare Do Well and fights crime at night.

I am really enjoying ditching my "no spoilers" policy for this season. Seriously, I remain excited for longer, I can take part in discussions, I can wildly speculate. It's great!

[Balmas]

I hereby declare that this shall be a thing.

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[Anarion]

S3 maybe

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If it doesn't involve growing wings, that makes it a great deal better, I will admit. That is without doubt my main concern, that they're going to give her wings.

That (getting wings) would bother me for two reasons in particular:

First, and most importantly, it would completely set her apart from her friends and make her more than them, more than she already is by being the princess' personal student and the most magical unicorn possibly ever. Only RD has the slightest hope of being on the same level as her, as it is. If she becomes an alicorn it only sets her further apart from them.

Second, it cheapens alicorns, even more so if the first point was countered by all her friends becoming alicorns (that'd be just plain awful beyond imagination.) I've always felt that being an alicorn ought to be something special. You descend from an ancient line of alicorns, or something, you don't just randomly become one for saving Equestria a few times. For that you become a hero, sure, not an alicorn.


Now, that wasn't your question ... but even without getting wings, it's much the same concerns.

1. It'd cheapen what it means to be a princess. This is made more difficult by the fact that we seem to have a few levels of royal-ness. I mean, technically Shining is probably a prince now, right? But he's not exactly on the same level as Celestia and Luna, nor is Cadance, even, from what I can tell at least. If Twilight becomes a princess in the sense that she is to replace Celestia and Luna, that'd be something entirely different than her marrying a prince, or getting a small piece of Equestria to rule. Wings or not, replacing Celestia and Luna would be a huge thing!

2. It'd set her apart from her friends, especially if we're talking about her replacing Celestia and Luna. The prospect of RD becoming a Wonderbolt is already a major thing, and that'd be nowhere near the same as Twilight becoming a princess like Celestia and Luna.

And

3. Celestia and Luna passing/going away would be majorly sad. I don't want them to go anywhere. Well, maybe a vacation, but that's the subject of a single episode, not a permanent and huge thing like Twilight becoming a princess.

4. I don't think I like the idea of Twilight ruling anything. I like the innocence of her just being another pony with her friends. Sure, a hero and a very important pony, but I don't want her to be a noble, or anything else of the sort. It's the same reason I don't like the idea that her family is nobility.


I think another problem is that every ruler is either a prince or a princess, unless they're evil in which case it's King or Queen. Blueblood should have been a Duke, Cadance probably should have been a Duchess or something too, or she should have been a princess while Celestia and Luna are Queens. And possibly Duchess would be a better fit for Twilight as well. Although see #4 again.

Response to Deadly (still kinda S3 spoilers, but we're getting more into general discussion of Alicorns)

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I don't think it would cheapen alicorns if it required an actual transfer of power. I mean, your example is alicorns descending from a long line of alicorns, but that makes the assumption that their powers are passed on via birth. What an odd and arbitrary reason to have power! That's one of the reasons we stopped having lines of kings, as it turns out that being related to somebody powerful isn't really related to being fit for ruling. It would make just as much sense to me that both the station of princess and the nature of being an alicorn (wings included) are passed down through some other process, such as a magic ritual, or merely by the choice of the current ruling alicorn.

I also think that you are, to some extent, forgetting the lesson of Boast Busters. Being special and unique, and even powerful, doesn't mean that your friends will stop liking you. Even if Twilight were set apart from her friends (purely hypothetically) they wouldn't stop being her friends and I'm sure she would make great efforts to keep them in her lives, even if she had to spend her time ruling all of Equestria too.

[Pokonic]

Okay... after finally calming down I'm ready to give my thoughts:

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EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! CELESTIA YOU ARE SO COOL!



*ahem*

Anyway...

Sooo yeah. Pumped for this.

Don't know if there's much else I can say that hasn't been mentioned. Funniest moment was Spike getting crushed by Magical Compendium vols. 1-36, with Pinkie's time-reversal as a close second.

Luna looked soooo pissed off during this. My personal theory is simply that she wants to be the heroine, like she used to be before NMM, but Celestia won't let her. I want her to have another episode, where she takes up the good name of Mare Do Well and fights crime at night.

I am really enjoying ditching my "no spoilers" policy for this season. Seriously, I remain excited for longer, I can take part in discussions, I can wildly speculate. It's great!

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It seems like she has the general "Lets see you do it again, Sparkle" vib to her.

Also, not sure if I like Sombers...1998-era website paint job on his armor. The shading makes it look rather distracting, compared to the rest of him. Which is also distracting.

I hereby declare that this shall be a thing.

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Agatha Spark....... Boffenspark...


It all makes sense now.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Season 3 spoiler:

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Twilight likes books just a liiiitle too much.

I'm reminded of a certain comic that I sadly cannot link here due to language. I'm sure some of you will know which one I mean.

[Eakin]

Really? That's very nice of you to donate them a couple million dollars for stealing your work. I mean, if they asked permission first, you might give it to them just to see your work made, sure. But if they actually did it without asking, I'd sue them.

I'm probably betraying a shocking degree of ignorance regarding intellectual property law here, but on what grounds? Fan fiction is, by definition, a derivative work and can be suppressed at the whim of the creator or whatever entity owns the rights to the property it's based off of, so it doesn't seem to be covered by a fair use exemption. Does a copyright still attach to works that are themselves
a violation of another copyright?

EDIT: I went sniffing around Wikipedia and looks like the answer to my question is "it's protected as long as it displays some originality of its own" which most of the fics discussed here probably do. So my understanding is that fanfiction can be suppressed but not stolen.

I hereby declare that this shall be a thing.

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It already is a thing. And the story I mentioned earlier, Contraptionology, is very much in the same spirit as Girl Genius

EDIT: Because 'a shocking lack of ignorance' just sounds like a really pretentious way to claim that I know what I'm talking about

[Soras Teva Gee]

Quality Side Rant:

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You'd be surprised how many computers these days have cards capable of accepting TV signal. And if not? Ask fans. They will provide.


If you really need to use cell phone, at least press it against table so that picture doesn't float like drunken sailor, turn the volume up, or simply use 1$ headphone plug cable which is compatible with every TV (out) and Laptop (in) to record sound in decent quality.

I know this is possible, obviously its how we get our episodes until the iTunes release.

However I've been buying computers for years now. I have yet to see one with a coaxial cable connection standard. Much less the programs to decrypt the raw feed and convert it into something I can upload. I'm know they exist but the first I found to let me actually do that will set me back $130. And because I buy my laptops off the rack I can't state with certainty that mine can actually process HD video, I can watch it sure but that causes some flickering and slow downs, actually needing to edit it.

I'm just tech savvy enough to know I have precisely zero idea how to actually do any of this. (What if the OnDemand doesn't work because it needs some extra step for example)

If I would do a better job with 10 year old PC than blog with thousands of nerdy sympathizers something is very wrong here.

The tech isn't new (I have a 1994 vintage AMV even) but has never been unspecialized. Ground level providers have always been pretty rare in fandom.

But what really gets me is the lack of perspective. Ten years ago HD did not exist. You would not have been taking video with a cellphone worth a damn, I know digital film equipment had been around, but digital photo cameras were just breaking through. At home I and everyone I knew had dial-up, I had to go off an leave my PC running for an hour to get small AMVs I can now get in seconds.

Um, by now, judging by ties/exclusives, it pretty much is. Just internet one with volunteers.

Yeah keyword here is volunteer. I'm sure as soon as

People on ED commented the video is 1-2 days old. Back when I was watching ST/BG you usually had HD clip in 1-2 hours, with fanmade subtitles. That was 3-4 years ago, I still use it as benchmark of fan groups, though, if it was possible then, it's possible now.

Yeah I'm not seeing a few days. I saw one comment of "last night" variety. Certainly not a legion of comments chuckling at how slow on the take Seth was.

And if its days old apparently nopony decided to spread the word much less sit down and acquire then post an HD capture. Much less evidently bother to tell Seth, who only posted hours ago and then was hurriedly editing the post.

I know plenty of fandoms with hours long turn around times... heck ponies worldwide can watch the show in realtime via streams... they ALSO are doing that generally once a week at a known time in advance, and they tend to be worldwide only a few people actually providing raw footage from the source.

I still have trouble finding HD video outside of torrents. Youtube isn't that safe for it for long and many of the lesser sites are not as high quality.

You know, my friend makes small internet portal about comics in Poland. Nothing on the scale of ED, and yet, I'm sometimes envious of perks the job gives. Even if it was really 'scant reward of gratitude' I'd still strive to do the job right, sorry, if only because I sign it.

And I'm not aware of when hosted HD video capture became the only acceptable standard of quality.

I don't expect things from people that are giving me a great gift. If there's something higher quality out there, yeah I will of course take that. But in the mean time I will take what I can get and be happy about it.

But when there's not the highest conceivable technical standard, it doesn't suddenly become unacceptable. I'm still getting something for nothing.

I am really enjoying ditching my "no spoilers" policy for this season. Seriously, I remain excited for longer, I can take part in discussions, I can wildly speculate. It's great!

Isn't just... liberating?

Seriously I find that the only spoilers worth keeping (major twists) end up just plain kept. You don't talk about Fight Club, but when I got around to seeing it I wish more people had broken rules one and two.

That's been my headcanon for ages. I reckon the same for all the mane six.

It does kinda follow naturally. At a minimum the EoH establish some level of successor status right from the get go.

Response to Deadly (still kinda S3 spoilers, but we're getting more into general discussion of Alicorns)

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I don't think it would cheapen alicorns if it required an actual transfer of power. I mean, your example is alicorns descending from a long line of alicorns, but that makes the assumption that their powers are passed on via birth. What an odd and arbitrary reason to have power! That's one of the reasons we stopped having lines of kings, as it turns out that being related to somebody powerful isn't really related to being fit for ruling. It would make just as much sense to me that both the station of princess and the nature of being an alicorn (wings included) are passed down through some other process, such as a magic ritual, or merely by the choice of the current ruling alicorn.

I also think that you are, to some extent, forgetting the lesson of Boast Busters. Being special and unique, and even powerful, doesn't mean that your friends will stop liking you. Even if Twilight were set apart from her friends (purely hypothetically) they wouldn't stop being her friends and I'm sure she would make great efforts to keep them in her lives, even if she had to spend her time ruling all of Equestria too.

Like most discussion of alicorns Cadance is still playing spoiler until otherwise established. As she is still very much a unicorn that just happens to have wings.

I wouldn't mind an "alicorn mantle" idea being established but it would need to account for her and be actually laid in the show.

[Balmas]

It already is a thing. And the story I mentioned earlier, Contraptionology, is very much in the same spirit as Girl Genius

EDIT: Because 'a shocking lack of ignorance' just sounds like a really pretentious way to claim that I know what I'm talking about

Stop giving me fics to read! I've still got 24 in the "to read list," and I'm still working through Project Horizons!

*crying* Does the madness never end?

[Eakin]

Stop giving me fics to read! I've still got 24 in the "to read list," and I'm still working through Project Horizons!

*crying* Does the madness never end?

The 200+ stories on my own 'to read' list suggest the madness does not, in fact, ever end

[Deadly]

Response to Deadly (still kinda S3 spoilers, but we're getting more into general discussion of Alicorns)

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I don't think it would cheapen alicorns if it required an actual transfer of power. I mean, your example is alicorns descending from a long line of alicorns, but that makes the assumption that their powers are passed on via birth. What an odd and arbitrary reason to have power! That's one of the reasons we stopped having lines of kings, as it turns out that being related to somebody powerful isn't really related to being fit for ruling. It would make just as much sense to me that both the station of princess and the nature of being an alicorn (wings included) are passed down through some other process, such as a magic ritual, or merely by the choice of the current ruling alicorn.

I also think that you are, to some extent, forgetting the lesson of Boast Busters. Being special and unique, and even powerful, doesn't mean that your friends will stop liking you. Even if Twilight were set apart from her friends (purely hypothetically) they wouldn't stop being her friends and I'm sure she would make great efforts to keep them in her lives, even if she had to spend her time ruling all of Equestria too.

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There is, I feel, rather a bit of a difference between real-world kings (who were really only different by virtue of their title, which could have been given to anyone else, regardless of worth) and an alicorn who is physically different.

We don't know if being an alicorn actually grants any kind of special power, other than possibly a political status and power, and Twilight certainly has plenty of actual power and potential without arbitrarily being given wings or a title.

I wouldn't want Applejack to suddenly sprout wings and become a pegasus either. Not permanently, at least. Not because I object to Applejack being granted power, but because I feel it cheapens being a pegasus if any earth pony could theoretically be turned into one through some magic ritual. Bam! Pegasus! Down with the boring old earth ponies.

Frankly that'd cheapen earth ponies too. I mean, so it's better to be a pegasus? Applejack is not good enough as she is? Or, in this case, so it's so much better to be an alicorn rather than a regular unicorn? Why is it not great enough that Twilight's is a pretty unique and special unicorn?

What I say is, Twilight has power and is great the way she is, she doesn't need to become an alicorn to be special, and she doesn't need to become a princess either. In fact, I feel it takes away from her character if she's destined to just become another pretty pony princess because that's the destiny and dream of every great unicorn, isn't it? Bah, humbug to that!

Twilight should stand out, she should be unique and special on her own terms. Just like not every woman's dream should be to land a rich and handsome husband, right? Not every unicorn's dream should be to become a princess.

***

As for the second point, I'm not saying she'd become aloof or that her friends would start hating her guts or be jealous of her. I'm sure it's quite possible that they'd be happy for her, and that she would find time to still be with them and all.

My objection is from an outside point of view, from our point of view, not from Twilight's. I feel it would change the mood and feeling of the show if the characters were changed so fundamentally. I probably would like RD to not become a Wonderbolt either, at least during the show. I mean, I hope she will be one day, but I don't want the show to suddenly be about Princess Twilight and her old friends, one of which is a famous Wonderbolt.

I want them to stay simple ponies, simple friends, unique in their own ways, while the show lasts. Any future they have should stay indefinitely in the future, from our point of view, if you see what I'm trying to say.

[Balmas]

The 200+ stories on my own 'to read' list suggest the madness does not, in fact, ever end

Oh. Okay. Carry on.


Seriously, how many words has the fandom put out? FoE is sitting pretty around 700K words, Project Horizons is topping 850K, Background Pony I think is somewhere around 400K... Didn't Fimfiction use to have a "Words written" counter?

[Kd7sov]

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There is, I feel, rather a bit of a difference between real-world kings (who were really only different by virtue of their title, which could have been given to anyone else, regardless of worth) and an alicorn who is physically different.

We don't know if being an alicorn actually grants any kind of special power, other than possibly a political status and power, and Twilight certainly has plenty of actual power and potential without arbitrarily being given wings or a title.

I wouldn't want Applejack to suddenly sprout wings and become a pegasus either. Not permanently, at least. Not because I object to Applejack being granted power, but because I feel it cheapens being a pegasus if any earth pony could theoretically be turned into one through some magic ritual. Bam! Pegasus! Down with the boring old earth ponies.

Frankly that'd cheapen earth ponies too. I mean, so it's better to be a pegasus? Applejack is not good enough as she is? Or, in this case, so it's so much better to be an alicorn rather than a regular unicorn? Why is it not great enough that Twilight's is a pretty unique and special unicorn?

What I say is, Twilight has power and is great the way she is, she doesn't need to become an alicorn to be special, and she doesn't need to become a princess either. In fact, I feel it takes away from her character if she's destined to just become another pretty pony princess because that's the destiny and dream of every great unicorn, isn't it? Bah, humbug to that!

Twilight should stand out, she should be unique and special on her own terms. Just like not every woman's dream should be to land a rich and handsome husband, right? Not every unicorn's dream should be to become a princess.

***

As for the second point, I'm not saying she'd become aloof or that her friends would start hating her guts or be jealous of her. I'm sure it's quite possible that they'd be happy for her, and that she would find time to still be with them and all.

My objection is from an outside point of view, from our point of view, not from Twilight's. I feel it would change the mood and feeling of the show if the characters were changed so fundamentally. I probably would like RD to not become a Wonderbolt either, at least during the show. I mean, I hope she will be one day, but I don't want the show to suddenly be about Princess Twilight and her old friends, one of which is a famous Wonderbolt.

I want them to stay simple ponies, simple friends, unique in their own ways, while the show lasts. Any future they have should stay indefinitely in the future, from our point of view, if you see what I'm trying to say.

Lalala alicorns and characterization and... there's not really any concise way to describe this spoiler, is there? Anyway, a couple of points that occur to me.

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I'd like to point out, first, that this is a world with magic. Magic, further, that explicitly can effect physical changes, specifically granting new abilities.

That being the case, then, I'm not aware of any particular reason to suppose that Celestia abdicating in favor of Twilight, and Twilight becoming an alicorn princess, is necessarily different than, say, Edward VIII abdicating in favor of his brother Albert, who then became King George VI. Obviously there'd be some kind of magical ceremony, but given this was established as a "magical land" in the very first line of the first episode I'd be highly disappointed if any legitimate transfer of power didn't have a magical ceremony.

Your position on the desirability of characters changing confuses me. The status quo works, therefore change is to be avoided? One unicorn is known to dream of royalty, and there's reason to believe others do, therefore one who's shown no sign of it isn't allowed to be royal?

Now, certainly, if Rarity were to become Princess Out Of Nowhere, that would be jarring and probably a bad sign. But I can see the edges of how such a thing might be set up in such a way that it wouldn't be. It'd require character development on her part, and considerably more interaction with Celestia, but it could happen. How much more plausible and viable, then, is it for Twilight, who not only hasn't shown interest in becoming royal for the sake of becoming royal, but also already has connections at that level?

I feel like I got off track there, but I'm not sure how or where. The point I think I was trying to make was, good things happen to people. And that's allowed to be the case even if they're good people.

[otakuryoga]

I am really enjoying ditching my "no spoilers" policy for this season. Seriously, I remain excited for longer, I can take part in discussions, I can wildly speculate. It's great!

i dont normally mind spoilers..because usually they dont release an 8 minute segment of them.............

[Eakin]

Oh. Okay. Carry on.


Seriously, how many words has the fandom put out? FoE is sitting pretty around 700K words, Project Horizons is topping 850K, Background Pony I think is somewhere around 400K... Didn't Fimfiction use to have a "Words written" counter?

There used to be a 'words read' counter on each profile, but the bigger their database got the slower it loaded so they removed it.

Playing with the browse feature I can tell you that there are 22,716 stories on Fimfiction right now, and who knows how many more on Google Docs around the internet.

[Balmas]

I miss that counter. Before they removed it, I think I was at around eight million words read; it's probably jumped to around twelve by now.

...I have no life.

And here's some math to prove it, using ten minutes and Excel.

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Assuming:

• The majority of stories (60%) is at or around the Fimfiction minimum of 1000 words;
• Around 30% of stories are around 10K words, or a smaller story.
• Around 9% are longer stories of 100K or smaller.
• One percent are stories like Background Pony, or the End of Ponies, and stretch past the 300K mark.
• There are a few outliers that stretch to 600K+ words. We'll just call them a round 2.5 million for the whole of them. This includes Project Horizons, a Dangerous Business, Fallout: Equestria, and other doorstoppers.

If you total all the stories and run the numbers, you wind up with a total of around 3.68 billion words, all in the space of two years. That adds up to 504 thousand words per day.

[Anarion]

I'm probably betraying a shocking degree of ignorance regarding intellectual property law here, but on what grounds? Fan fiction is, by definition, a derivative work and can be suppressed at the whim of the creator or whatever entity owns the rights to the property it's based off of, so it doesn't seem to be covered by a fair use exemption. Does a copyright still attach to works that are themselves
a violation of another copyright?

EDIT: I went sniffing around Wikipedia and looks like the answer to my question is "it's protected as long as it displays some originality of its own" which most of the fics discussed here probably do. So my understanding is that fanfiction can be suppressed but not stolen.

As with all legal questions, the answer is "it depends." I'm actually in the process of developing a case study on Derpy, if you can believe it, because the question of who owns her is...challenging.

I'd suggest that a story entirely of OCs would fair better than one using named Hasbro characters, but yeah it really depends on context. I was mostly responding best case scenario to Forum Explorer because I think most people would be pretty annoyed if Hasbro actually did steal their fanfic idea as opposed to asking permission to use it.

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There is, I feel, rather a bit of a difference between real-world kings (who were really only different by virtue of their title, which could have been given to anyone else, regardless of worth) and an alicorn who is physically different.

We don't know if being an alicorn actually grants any kind of special power, other than possibly a political status and power, and Twilight certainly has plenty of actual power and potential without arbitrarily being given wings or a title.

I wouldn't want Applejack to suddenly sprout wings and become a pegasus either. Not permanently, at least. Not because I object to Applejack being granted power, but because I feel it cheapens being a pegasus if any earth pony could theoretically be turned into one through some magic ritual. Bam! Pegasus! Down with the boring old earth ponies.

Frankly that'd cheapen earth ponies too. I mean, so it's better to be a pegasus? Applejack is not good enough as she is? Or, in this case, so it's so much better to be an alicorn rather than a regular unicorn? Why is it not great enough that Twilight's is a pretty unique and special unicorn?

What I say is, Twilight has power and is great the way she is, she doesn't need to become an alicorn to be special, and she doesn't need to become a princess either. In fact, I feel it takes away from her character if she's destined to just become another pretty pony princess because that's the destiny and dream of every great unicorn, isn't it? Bah, humbug to that!

Twilight should stand out, she should be unique and special on her own terms. Just like not every woman's dream should be to land a rich and handsome husband, right? Not every unicorn's dream should be to become a princess.

***

As for the second point, I'm not saying she'd become aloof or that her friends would start hating her guts or be jealous of her. I'm sure it's quite possible that they'd be happy for her, and that she would find time to still be with them and all.

My objection is from an outside point of view, from our point of view, not from Twilight's. I feel it would change the mood and feeling of the show if the characters were changed so fundamentally. I probably would like RD to not become a Wonderbolt either, at least during the show. I mean, I hope she will be one day, but I don't want the show to suddenly be about Princess Twilight and her old friends, one of which is a famous Wonderbolt.

I want them to stay simple ponies, simple friends, unique in their own ways, while the show lasts. Any future they have should stay indefinitely in the future, from our point of view, if you see what I'm trying to say.

Deadly, we've crossed from a discussion of what makes sense in the canon to what you, personally, want to have happen in the show. Also out of spoilers, mostly, which is nice. Anyway, if you think the show would be better if the mane 6 stay exactly as they are now and never advance in life, move away, or gain any kind of new powers, that's your preference. I'm sure there are lots of good stories to tell just in Ponyville. I don't think the show needs that limitation, however. There are a lot of good lessons about friendship to be told from the perspective of ponies that get older and have changes happen in their lives. Whether those changes are getting into relationship, new jobs, new magic powers, or new homes, those are stories I would also be interested in watching.

If none of those stories interests you, I'm sorry to hear that and I hope the show manages to go in a direction that pleases both of us.

[Soras Teva Gee]

As with all legal questions, the answer is "it depends." I'm actually in the process of developing a case study on Derpy, if you can believe it, because the question of who owns her is...challenging.

Is this case study going to involve a filmable presentation? Or something that can be shared?

[Anarion]

Is this case study going to involve a filmable presentation? Or something that can be shared?

I won't own it. It's for the edX copyright class that's being taught in the spring out of Harvard, which I've mentioned a couple times on the thread in friendly banter. I'll probably post about it here when signup info goes up in a month or so in case anypony is interested in a free copyright course. I can't guarantee you'd get me as a teacher though, I think which TA you get is somewhat randomized.

[CrnivorousMeece]

Eight minute preview of The Crystal Empire. *SPOILERS*

MUST RESIST SPOILERS!!!




aaw forget it.

S3 spoilers

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I'm definitely liking the way King Sombra is turning out. He kinda has this monstrous tyrannical dictator vibe going that I'm loving. He looks like he's going to be just flat out evil, which is going to be interesting to say the least. Though I thought he's be an Alicorn too but, I guess that just makes him even scarier. Also the whole "turned to shadow" thing can't wait to see how that comes back to bite them in the flank. Anyway can't wait to see what he's like.

[Maxtronaut]

Am I the only one on this entire thread that hasn't looked at any Season 3 spoilers yet?

[Eakin]

I won't own it. It's for the edX copyright class that's being taught in the spring out of Harvard, which I've mentioned a couple times on the thread in friendly banter. I'll probably post about it here when signup info goes up in a month or so in case anypony is interested in a free copyright course. I can't guarantee you'd get me as a teacher though, I think which TA you get is somewhat randomized.

I'd be interested in that. I'm studying cyber security and intellectual property/copyright stuff is a huge deal in a lot of the stuff I look at. Plus I just like learning stuff. I'll keep an eye out for your announcement

Am I the only one on this entire thread that hasn't looked at any Season 3 spoilers yet?

I've seen a few screenshots, a clip of one of the songs, and the episode summaries. Not touching the clip that just popped up though.

[Aotrs Commander]

Am I the only one on this entire thread that hasn't looked at any Season 3 spoilers yet?

No. Aside from a few hints and that one clip of the song a month or two back, I avoid them like the plague. I haven't even looked at the episode summaries.

[Deadly]

Lalala alicorns and characterization and... there's not really any concise way to describe this spoiler, is there? Anyway, a couple of points that occur to me.

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I'd like to point out, first, that this is a world with magic. Magic, further, that explicitly can effect physical changes, specifically granting new abilities.

That being the case, then, I'm not aware of any particular reason to suppose that Celestia abdicating in favor of Twilight, and Twilight becoming an alicorn princess, is necessarily different than, say, Edward VIII abdicating in favor of his brother Albert, who then became King George VI. Obviously there'd be some kind of magical ceremony, but given this was established as a "magical land" in the very first line of the first episode I'd be highly disappointed if any legitimate transfer of power didn't have a magical ceremony.

Your position on the desirability of characters changing confuses me. The status quo works, therefore change is to be avoided? One unicorn is known to dream of royalty, and there's reason to believe others do, therefore one who's shown no sign of it isn't allowed to be royal?

Now, certainly, if Rarity were to become Princess Out Of Nowhere, that would be jarring and probably a bad sign. But I can see the edges of how such a thing might be set up in such a way that it wouldn't be. It'd require character development on her part, and considerably more interaction with Celestia, but it could happen. How much more plausible and viable, then, is it for Twilight, who not only hasn't shown interest in becoming royal for the sake of becoming royal, but also already has connections at that level?

I feel like I got off track there, but I'm not sure how or where. The point I think I was trying to make was, good things happen to people. And that's allowed to be the case even if they're good people.

I do not think we've seen magic provide permanent changes to the body. We've seen Twilight's temporary wing spell, and Discord temporarily removed wings and horns. Even if that could have been permanent, maybe, that was Discord, who may be a special case. I can not think of a case of permanent change, so we don't know that it's possible beyond very small things. We've seen that it's apparently not possible to give a pony their cutie mark, so it seems possible that other defining traits are likewise difficult or impossible to give.

Yes, good things are allowed to happen, to Twilight just as much as anypony else. But why does it have to be "become a pretty princess?" We have no indication that Twilight dreams of becoming a princess, so there's no reason other than "but everypony should want to be a pretty princess, surely, and Twilight is oh so special", but I say she's already special, and she can be as special as you want without being an alicorn or a princess. Was Starswirl a prince? We don't know, but he certainly didn't have to be in order to be a legend.

I think Twilight and her friends are great as regular ponies, of their respective kinds. I do not think any of them would gain anything from becoming alicorns, and I do not think Twilight would gain anything from being granted the title of princess (wings or not) either. In fact I feel it would be detrimental to her character.

Deadly, we've crossed from a discussion of what makes sense in the canon to what you, personally, want to have happen in the show. Also out of spoilers, mostly, which is nice. Anyway, if you think the show would be better if the mane 6 stay exactly as they are now and never advance in life, move away, or gain any kind of new powers, that's your preference. I'm sure there are lots of good stories to tell just in Ponyville. I don't think the show needs that limitation, however. There are a lot of good lessons about friendship to be told from the perspective of ponies that get older and have changes happen in their lives. Whether those changes are getting into relationship, new jobs, new magic powers, or new homes, those are stories I would also be interested in watching.

If none of those stories interests you, I'm sorry to hear that and I hope the show manages to go in a direction that pleases both of us.

I don't personally think it makes sense in the canon for Twilight to become a princess, actually, but yes, a lot of this is my personal opinion, though I feel I have good reasons (outlined already) for holding these opinions. I do not feel that all changes to the characters are good, I do not feel that all slightly plausible ideas would be good.

I don't have a problem with them growing in experience, power and responsibilities. But I am wary about exactly in what way and to what extent. Would you like Applejack to become a pegasus, for example? You could probably come up with a story about that, but would it actually fit the character and the show? If suddenly the mane 6 had 3 pegasi and only one earth pony? What if Pinkie became a unicorn? Would that be good (jokes about the end of the world aside?)

I also don't want humans to be a thing, even though they could just as easily show up as Twilight could become a princess, but some things like that would change the feeling and tone of the show in a way that I don't think would be good. Thankfully we have good reason to think humans will never be a thing.

I may be more open to Dash becoming a Wonderbolt during the show than I am to Twilight ever becoming a princess. I do not think Twilight should become a princess, ever. I feel it would ruin her as a character and harm the show, whereas Dash is obviously Wonderbolts material and should achieve that dream sometime (in the show itself or not). I do not think Twilight should ever become a princess, even as an implied future, for the various reasons I've outlined so far.