My Little Pony LVI:S Has Left the Playground!

[t209]

Crystal Empire scary implications:
Did King Sombra exterminated Pegasus and Unicorns during his reign? For another information, his palace was designed to proof from anyone (Earth Pony can't catch or open the door, Unicorn will be caught by fear spell and he or she (At least average) has to get up the stairs forever, and Pegasus will can't catch or open the door).

[Aotrs Commander]

Originally Posted by Pokonic

Good sir, I have a request: You seem to be good with numbers, and considering what we know about ponies, how freakishly powerful is Iron Will to the point he has roughly two stallions worth of muscle mass in each of his biceps?

I'm not sure I could provide a sensible answer. Calculating pony strength against a variable we can estimate is one thing, but extrapolating beyond that is very much another. For one thing, we don't know if Minotaurs have the same strength ratio as ponies (they might not have superpowers), so without a basic for comparison...

The simplest answer, assuming the same proportional strength (which, in my opinion, is a very BIG assumption) is to compare the relative size of a pony limb to his arms (as muscle strength is largerly dependant on cross-sectional area, if I recall) and scale it up. So if a pony limb is like, a third of the width, he might have nine times the strength.

But that's pretty dubious, even then, as we're into "what do we mean by 'strength'" and carrying capacity of quadrupeds verses bipeds, and I don't honestly know what those factors are (aside from D&D's made-up rule of thumb). It's actually quite hard to get carrying capacities for humans, but if you could find carrying capacity for a quadruped of roughly human mass, we might be able to iron out a rough order-or-magnitude.

[Balmas]

Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes

It is one of the more useful internet culture websites.
KYM and Encyclopedia Dramatica are far, far more useful for this kind of thing than they have any right to be.

Out of a warped sense of curiosity, I decided to open up the Encyclopedia Dramatica entry on My Little Pony. I remember I used to read ED all the time; how come I never read it any more?

I open the page, and the first thing I see is an R34 picture of Pinkie-Dash shipping.

[beat, followed by rapidly exiting out]

Oh. Yeah, that's why.

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Balmas

Out of a warped sense of curiosity, I decided to open up the Encyclopedia Dramatica entry on My Little Pony. I remember I used to read ED all the time; how come I never read it any more?

I open the page, and the first thing I see is an R34 picture of Pinkie-Dash shipping.

[beat, followed by rapidly exiting out]

Oh. Yeah, that's why.

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry.

I mean, even the thought that Rainbow would cheat on Fluttershy...

[Tiki Snakes]

Originally Posted by t209

Crystal Empire scary implications:
Did King Sombra exterminated Pegasus and Unicorns during his reign? For another information, his palace was designed to proof from anyone (Earth Pony can't catch or open the door, Unicorn will be caught by fear spell and he or she (At least average) has to get up the stairs forever, and Pegasus will can't catch or open the door).

Ponies clearly settled initially in single-pony-race settlements. Cloudsdale and the Pegasi, Canterlot and the Unicorns, etc. Much more likely, the Crystal Empire is either an Earth Pony settlement or the original equestrian Earth Pony city.
Over the past 1000 years, ponykind has clearly both expanded and intermingled, with only Cloudsdale remaining all but exclusively mono-cultured due to it's unique construction.

The Earth Ponies of the Crystal Empire have some unique traits to that city, due to the Crystal Heart's magic. In other ways, it is a snapshot of Equestria a thousand years ago, with it's mono-cultured society.

Possibly the reason for Earth Ponies relatively low percieved status is that the Crystal Empire represents their most ancient Equestrian settlement. With Earth Ponies across Equestria cut off from their heritage, they effectively started again from scratch. This is why places like Manehatten are so advanced, as all of earth pony drive and ingenuity have been channeled into finding a new place for themselves in the world, whereas Pegasi and Unicorn societies have remained more backward looking in comparison, as their history is still very much present as a constant reminder. (This may also be the reason why Earth Ponies are so likely to be out there on the frontiers, founding new places to live as it's become part of the Earth Pony Psyche.)

[Maxtronaut]

Originally Posted by Thanqol

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry.

I mean, even the thought that Rainbow would cheat on Fluttershy...

Spoiler

[TheAmishPirate]

Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate

And now for something completely different!

Some of you may remember my story Flowers for Twilight. If memory serves, the last update was, what, sometime in June? May? Either way, it's been a while. Turns out writing in Japan ended up being impossible, what with the eye strain, massive workload, and other such nonsense keeping me busy. But after months of getting in odd tweaks and scenes here and there, I'm happy to announce that the next chapter is daggum finally ready for pre-reading!

Chapter 3

(old chapters, in the quite likely case you need to jog your memory)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Finally getting to the actual meat of the story. Specific pre-reader questions are below, please check them out after you've read it:

Spoiler

Concerns with the group study scene:
1. It’s dialogue heavy. It may have a purpose, it may not. Either way, does it work for you?
2. The whole “That was two questions ago”. Does it work? Did it leave you confused?
3. If you had to cut anything in this scene, what would you cut?

Concerns with magic scenes:
1) How’s the description? Too much? Too literal? Too ethereal?
2) Did you have a clear idea what was going on?

General Concerns:
1) How is Rose's character? Do you think you have a good feel for her, or is she getting the AJ treatment of "straight pony means boring pony"?
2) How is the pacing? Do you feel like the story has been dragging on? I'm a little worried that three chapters to get to the kick-off point of one of the main plots is a bit much, but I don't see any other way to do it.

Any and all critique would be appreciated. Even if you can't get to this story for a while, belated feedback is still feedback.

So, did anypony get around to checking this out? Plan to check it out at some point? Actively spit on it and toss it out the window?

It seems like a lot of our prereaders (myself included for various reasons) don't really pre-read things all that much anymore. Anypony else have places they go to get work reviewed before formally releasing it?

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Balmas

Out of a warped sense of curiosity, I decided to open up the Encyclopedia Dramatica entry on My Little Pony. I remember I used to read ED all the time; how come I never read it any more?

I open the page, and the first thing I see is an R34 picture of Pinkie-Dash shipping.

[beat, followed by rapidly exiting out]

Oh. Yeah, that's why.

Your TVtropes link has a nice gem from Celestia in the quotes.

Celestia: Oh yes! Mmm... Sometimes I just see a colt and I think to myself, 'Oh, if only I was an immortal, beautiful, sexy goddess that all would love to mate until I couldn't stand up.' And then I think 'Oh wait! I totally am!'

Originally Posted by Thanqol

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry.

I mean, even the thought that Rainbow would cheat on Fluttershy...

Inconceivable!

Spoiler

Deadly, I hope you don't mind that I used your image to make a point.

[Balmas]

Originally Posted by Thanqol

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry.

I mean, even the thought that Rainbow would cheat on Fluttershy...

You, sir, just put the smile back on my face. Here, have a cookie.

Spoiler

Wait, here you go.

Spoiler

[Grif]

Originally Posted by Anarion

I also have a question I'm hoping ponythread can help me out with. Does anyone know the first fanfiction to call Derpy Hooves by name? I'm thinking it was late October or early November 2010, right after she was released, but if anyone can authoritatively point me to the first one, you'll get citation credit in my project.

I believe the name was first used in one of the /co/'s fanfic thread. Those are mostly obscure and probably lost in the mists of time, but there you have it. You might be able to dig it out of one EqD old archaeology post.

(The earliest one I seen was one about Derpy being a famous poet and Twilight finding out about it.)

[otakuryoga]

so...i dont remember seeing this before....

alternate theory on why Sombra couldnt talk

Spoiler

His throat was blocked with Gak!

[MCerberus]

Originally Posted by otakuryoga

so...i dont remember seeing this before....

alternate theory on why Sombra couldnt talk

Spoiler

His throat was blocked with Gak!

Sorry, Crystal Dialect already head-canon.

[Dirtytabs]

Originally Posted by otakuryoga

so...i dont remember seeing this before....

alternate theory on why Sombra couldnt talk

Spoiler

His throat was blocked with Gak!

No wonder he appeared so angry the whole time. That stuff doesn't look very palatable. Somehow, the Crystal Dialect came about. Maybe he always had Gak stuck in his throat.

[ICN]

Originally Posted by t209

Crystal Empire scary implications:
Did King Sombra exterminated Pegasus and Unicorns during his reign? For another information, his palace was designed to proof from anyone (Earth Pony can't catch or open the door, Unicorn will be caught by fear spell and he or she (At least average) has to get up the stairs forever, and Pegasus will can't catch or open the door).

Nah, I just think there weren't any Pegasi or Unicorns to begin with. Head canon time!

Cut back to the time frame of the Hearth's Warming Eve story. Some of the Earth ponies decided to stay and continue farming the land that had been in their families for generations instead of joining the others in their mass exodus. In spite of their efforts they were still unable to get anything to grow, and now they even lacked their scapegoats (Scape-ponies?) to blame it on. Instead of just waiting for the end the remaining Earth ponies pooled the last of their resources and had a festival so they could go out with a smile. The resulting happiness powered the Crystal Heart and BAM! They once again had farmable land. The land now being maintained by the power of crystals, the Earth ponies intrinsic connection with said land caused their metamorphosis into Crystal ponies.

And that's how Pinkie Pie got her cutie mark!

Yeah, I put way too much thought into these things.

[Rebonack]

Originally Posted by MCerberus

Sorry, Crystal Dialect already head-canon.

<_<

I suspect he didn't talk because he was insane.

Sombrero wasn't an immortal like Nightmare Moon or Discord. He was just a normal (if eeeevil) pony. Locked away. Alone. For one thousand years. The guy just completely snapped.

Honestly it would have been more merciful to just kill him to begin with.

[t209]

Originally Posted by Rebonack

<_<

I suspect he didn't talk because he was insane.

Sombrero wasn't an immortal like Nightmare Moon or Discord. He was just a normal (if eeeevil) pony. Locked away. Alone. For one thousand years. The guy just completely snapped.

Honestly it would have been more merciful to just kill him to begin with.

I am now wondering if the banishment of Sombra was a deconstruction of G rated no killing policy in cartoons.
My Headcanon: I think his lack of speech is his idea that speaking hammy villain is most likely to loose.

[HamHam]

The flaming heart we see in Hearth's Warming Eve is just too close to the Crystal Heart in appearance, origin, and power for there not to be a connection, imho.

[Balmas]

Don't be silly, Mac; you're a pony, not a horse.

[ICN]

Originally Posted by HamHam

The flaming heart we see in Hearth's Warming Eve is just too close to the Crystal Heart in appearance, origin, and power for there not to be a connection, imho.

Hmmm...

Alright, I'll say that there are multiple Crystal Hearts that are all connected to each other, which is how the state of the Crystal Empire could affect the state of things in Equestria. There are six Crystal Hearts altogether, each of which corresponds to a different Element of Harmony. Equestria has the Magic of Friendship, while my hypothetical Crystal Empire possesses the one for Laughter.

[Thanqol]

WOOHOO! Final exam done! Assuming I don't horribly fail it, I am now hold the titles of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce!

I can finally say for reals that I have a degree in creative writing! I outrank everyone here! Except Phoe, I think she's got a degree and is a magical pony princess. I got nothing on that.

And to celebrate, I am finally turning all of my chat programs back on. Internet, I am yours fully once again.

Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate

It seems like a lot of our prereaders (myself included for various reasons) don't really pre-read things all that much anymore. Anypony else have places they go to get work reviewed before formally releasing it?

Speaking of this, now I have time for reading things again!

EVERYPONY, IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE ME TO READ AND REVIEW ON YOUR BEHALF, TELL ME!

[Raz_Fox]

Yay, I just had my first "thirty-year-olds who watch MLP are pedophiles and I wouldn't let one near my hypothetical kids" argument. Do I get an official patch or something? It's got to be at least a space on Brony Bingo.

Also, apparently it's becoming hip in certain places to assign the label "brony" to the drama-magnet fans without self-awareness or shame, and just call yourself "someone who watches MLP". Interesting development.



Related to the previous two... I'm actually kind of surprised at how much it took to just turn off my inner skeptic for the Season 3 opener, and how enjoyable it was when I turned it off. Like, I'm excited about ponies again, even though part of me wants to be sour and curl up on itself to avoid any hint of blame for being a geeky fan.

Still a bit hard to watch Rarity as a character as opposed to cipher or symbol. Takes a bit of conscious effort.

Spike deserved this episode.

Wife Caber Toss.

What more is there to say?

Originally Posted by Thanqol

WOOHOO! Final exam done! Assuming I don't horribly fail it, I am now hold the titles of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce!

I can finally say for reals that I have a degree in creative writing! I outrank everyone here! Except Phoe, I think she's got a degree and is a magical pony princess. I got nothing on that.

And to celebrate, I am finally turning all of my chat programs back on. Internet, I am yours fully once again.

Congratulations, sir. May all your books find the right publishers and sell beyond your wildest dreams.

I've been working hard at being someone you'd nod to, and may have ended up as someone you'd shake your head at. More testing is necessary for final verdict re: character arc.

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

I've been working hard at being someone you'd nod to, and may have ended up as someone you'd shake your head at. More testing is necessary for final verdict re: character arc.

Why not take a moment to unwind?

[Tiki Snakes]

Originally Posted by t209

I am now wondering if the banishment of Sombra was a deconstruction of G rated no killing policy in cartoons.
My Headcanon: I think his lack of speech is his idea that speaking hammy villain is most likely to loose.

Pony does not contain deconstructions or Grim and/or Dark subplots. Pony is straight forward and honest. You keep looking for secret edgeyness and you won't find it.

[zimmerwald1915]

Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes

Pony does not contain deconstructions or Grim and/or Dark subplots. Pony is straight forward and honest. You keep looking for secret edgeyness and you won't find it.

But this is what t209 does. Everything in media is a reference to, or a commentary on, or unconsciously copying something he likes, no matter how tenuous the connection might seem to the rest of us. And every such reference, commentary, or unconscious connection must be pointed out, lest we miss it.

And just so this post isn't just me badmouthing another poster who I'm sure is a very nice person when he's not annoying me on the internet, here's a pony I drew. Forgive her awfulness; I haven't drawn anything in a very long time. Any resemblance to a pony or ponies, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Spoiler

[Dirtytabs]

Originally Posted by t209

My Headcanon: I think his lack of speech is his idea that speaking hammy villain is most likely to loose.

Not-really-speaking, non-hammy villain still lost. A thousand years of assuming this sort of thing will work goes awry...

Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes

Pony does not contain deconstructions or Grim and/or Dark subplots. Pony is straight forward and honest. You keep looking for secret edgeyness and you won't find it.

I'm tempted to joke that its edginess is so secret that even the writers didn't know about it, but I won't because it isn't true.

[Grif]

Originally Posted by TheAmishPirate

So, did anypony get around to checking this out? Plan to check it out at some point? Actively spit on it and toss it out the window?

It seems like a lot of our prereaders (myself included for various reasons) don't really pre-read things all that much anymore. Anypony else have places they go to get work reviewed before formally releasing it?

You can try here or here.

I'll try to get to it later. I been meaning to read but I kept losing the links. ;_;

[One Tin Soldier]

Originally Posted by Raz_Fox

Yay, I just had my first "thirty-year-olds who watch MLP are pedophiles and I wouldn't let one near my hypothetical kids" argument. Do I get an official patch or something? It's got to be at least a space on Brony Bingo.

Also, apparently it's becoming hip in certain places to assign the label "brony" to the drama-magnet fans without self-awareness or shame, and just call yourself "someone who watches MLP". Interesting development.

*awards patch, probably with a very low-quality drawing of a pony*

And yes, I've noticed the same thing. In fact, I've had minor arguments with friends over the subject. There's kind of a strange insistence that I should feel ashamed to call myself a brony, even though they are the ones who associate the term with the nasty side of the fanbase. I personally just use it to mean "a fan of the show," the same as Whovians or Homestucks.
Besides, "Brony" rolls off the tongue much more easily than "My Little Pony Fan." Or "Pegasister" for that matter, but that's a different discussion.

[Pendulous]

This is probably a little off-topic, but I think it fits given what you read from it. I finally watched the first two Littlest Pet Shop episodes. Obviously, a lot of comparisons to make.

First, I'd say that I got a couple laughs out of it. I gotta say, there's a lot of character names I missed, mostly the pets. And I gotta be honest, I can't tell what kind of animal most of them are. I'll probably watch a couple more. I'm guessing it's going to turn into splice-of-life stuff like MLP did after it's two-episode introduction.
MLP cast in LPS:

Daniel Ingram - music/theme song
Steffan Andrews - music
Terry Klassen - Voice Director
Ashleigh Ball - Rainbow Da.....I mean Blythe.
Tabitha St. Germain - Pepper, I think that's the skunk
Nicole Oliver - Zoe, no idea
Peter New - Sunil, no idea
Kathleen Barr - Mrs. Twombly and Jasper. She's Trixie/Chrysalis in MLP
Shannon Chan-Kent - Biskit twins and Youngmee Song. She does the singing voice for Pinkie Pie, and apparently the voice of Silver Spoon

All in all I couldn't help but draw similarities. The fashion pet was similar to Rarity, and wore clothing that had lots of gems. At the same time, her colors seemed to match Twilight's. The montage that featured the pets seemed to be similar, yet opposite, to the montage for Art of the Dress. Instead of "Princess Demandypants", the characters were helping each other.

Most of the characters' personalities fell a little flat though. Given it's only two episodes, that's to be a little expected, but still.

[Anarion]

Originally Posted by Thanqol

WOOHOO! Final exam done! Assuming I don't horribly fail it, I am now hold the titles of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce!

I can finally say for reals that I have a degree in creative writing! I outrank everyone here! Except Phoe, I think she's got a degree and is a magical pony princess. I got nothing on that.

And to celebrate, I am finally turning all of my chat programs back on. Internet, I am yours fully once again.



Speaking of this, now I have time for reading things again!

EVERYPONY, IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE ME TO READ AND REVIEW ON YOUR BEHALF, TELL ME!

Congratulations! Enjoy your 6 months of being better educated than me, you get full rights to lord it over me at any opportunity.

Originally Posted by Thanqol

Why not take a moment to unwind?

That video is not available in my country.

Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes

Pony does not contain deconstructions or Grim and/or Dark subplots. Pony is straight forward and honest. You keep looking for secret edgeyness and you won't find it.

While I understand your sentiment, pony actually contains several deconstructions. For example:
1. Dog and Pony Show: Spike's repeated melodramatics while Rarity saves herself is essentially a deconstruction of the damsel in distress.
2. The entirety of Sweet and Elite is a deconstruction of the "character punished for lying" story archetype.
3. The entire show was designed as a deconstruction of the idea that all little girls' characters are the same.

[Thanqol]

Originally Posted by Anarion

Congratulations! Enjoy your 6 months of being better educated than me, you get full rights to lord it over me at any opportunity.

I think I hear the buzzing of uneducated plebians.

Buzz buzz.

That video is not available in my country.

Deep Purple, "Clearly Quite Absurd".

If I have theme music, that is it.