Pony Fanfiction Thread

There was one fic that had some old soldier ponies eagerly anticipating a new war, to the point Celestia eventually agreed it really had been to long and she'd see what she could do to get a war with the griffons going so the old soldiers could have one last battle.

It's also the one that has best idea for 'war' in Equestria. Celestia had gotten all the other nations to be so peaceful.. at least when it comes to ponies, that there hasn't been any actual wars in centuries. But knowing there are young.. and old.. hot heads that need to blow off some steam in a fight in all countries, they arrange occasional 'wars' with each other, using such deadly weapons as foam swords, water balloons, and thrown pies. Needless to say Luna was rather shocked at how eager for war everypony was till Tia explained it.

But yeah the whole earlier setting's idea is based on "let's make the setting as bullshit, dark, and idiotic as possible so we can bitch about how wrong that type of thing is. And basically just an excuse for making some political statements about IRL bullshit.

I wonder if the assumption that certain groups don't have rights is an American assumption when going into writing? Like, a cultural thing... what's the trope for when a writer accidentally applies one of their own culture elements onto a country or situation where it doesn't exist, simply because they think of it so universally that they don't know it doesn't exist there?

Because it seems like the vast majority of stories that deal with, or even mention, homosexuality in ponyfic make the assumption that homosexual marriage is banned in Equestrian. Meanwhile, Gay Marriage has been legal in Canada for longer than I've known what homosexuality was, so it's never once occurred to me that it might not be legal in Equestria.

Like, one of the most asked questions on Ask Hoops and Dumbbell is whether or not gay marriage is legal, and part of the reason why I've never answered it is because I always think, "Well of course it is. What an odd question. why wouldn't it be?"

I mean obviously non-american countries aren't perfect where rights are concerned, but that happens to be the one that really jumps out at me. I'm just curious to what degree America's own social mores affect the landscape of how Fanfic writers arrange the country socially speaking. Racial/tribe tensions, civil rights, etc.

edited 28th Jul '15 4:28:42 AM by kegisak

I wouldn't know the absolute totals, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't even come up in the majority of pony shojo-ai. JT, at least, didn't bother with it.

(But yeah, I actually stopped because the sudden focus on gay marriage made it feel kind of tracty... of course, trying to binge a story when you have to get up for work in three hours doesn't help either.)

I guess I just have to experience things for myself. I still want to check out Triptych even though, if I'm reading around the plentiful spoiler tags correctly, it's another one that's going to make me mad at Applejack.

edited 28th Jul '15 9:25:39 AM by YamiVizziniX

I'd say it's an intersection of Values Dissonance and Creator Provincialism.

Personally, I find the idea of gay marriage being illegal in Equestria contrived and dumb because of execution and believability, not provincialism. It doesn't match the setting and is never written well.

I find that invoking homophobia tends to be a crutch to add conflict to a story about the relationship because the writer can't make the actual relationship interesting.

While gay marriage may be legal in Canada, I've still run into homophobia, although not at the level of intensity that I've seen come out of the US. It's more of a passive thing around here. Like, no one wants to talk about it and when it is discussed, it's given that sort of "other" treatment. Hell, I'll even admit that I fell into that thinking when I was younger until I'd been around the Internet enough.

I could easily see there being a group of highly vocal homophobes in Equestria, but I wouldn't believe for a second that Celestia would endorse any law that bans gay marriage.

Yeah, it just.. goes against everything about the setting and everything we know about Equestria for it to be that way. Agreed, might be some very conservative ponies that have issues with it, but on the whole? Don't see any-pony giving even enough of a fuck to see mare/mare or stallion/stallion relationships as any different then mare/stallion let alone see anything wrong with them.

Can only think of one fic that used homophobia in anyway tat was fairly decent. A Lyra/Bon fic where Lyra loved Bon-Bon, but Bon-Bon was an extremely hardcore homophope. The only way it worked was because it didn't take itself seriously and went so over the top with it it became rather hilarious.

I'm reminded of The Many Secret Origins of Scootaloo, where Mrs. Cake spins a sorrowful story about the relationship between Scootaloo's two mothers, and how both of them were disowned by their family for their forbidden relationship ... and Twilight just calmly points out that gay marriage has been legal and socially accepted for centuries.

I can imagine that if homophobia in Equestria, if it exists, would most likely stem from school-ground taunts. Not because of stigma about being gay, but from the general "make fun of people for anything about them that's 'different.'"

Other subverted-homophobia stories:

"An Apple Comes Out of the Cellar". Applejack confesses to her family that she's a fillyfooler, and they're all very disappointed in her. Specifically, they're disappointed she used the word "fillyfooler": “The proper term’s lesbian.”

Bitter Harvest. Carrot Top is gay and seriously in denial of it. Initially it's implied she's in the closet because of how her mom would react—then her mom shows up, and she's supportive of Carrot to a smothering degree. And she's a lesbian herself.

I considered doing something like that with a possible sequel to Clothes Hangers - the first story mentions Ace's family is "traditional", and it's kind of taken for granted he means homophobic... but the sequel would reveal his mom just really, really wants grandkids and he's dodging out on starting a family.

"Jesus christ mom I'm only twenty three"

"I started making babies when I was 17"

"Holy fuck, mom!"

Oh another one that played with homophobia and issues with a mare/mare relationship really well, An Escort's journal. Mild spoilers for a plot point so Carrot Top is one of Guilty's more regular customers, and one he really dislikes. Since she just comes for the session, treats him coldly, is pretty much "Shut up and fuck me then go away" type of customer, treating him like a sex toy more then anything and tends to treat him like shit if she sees him outside of those sessions, if she doesn't just outright ignore him. Then he finds out she's in a relationship with lily, and using him to cheat on her, and hates herself for doing it, transferring that to him. But she just is not sexually satisfied with Lily, and simply gets to the point she needs an outlet for it. It's played up like it's going to be Carrot Top is faking being a lesbian, or at least Bi, and really isn't sexually interested in mares at all. or possibly a self hating lesbian who is attracted to them, but tries to fight it and so can't enjoy being with one only for it to turn out, she's just fine with mare's, . The real issue? Lily is just really really bad in bed.

edited 28th Jul '15 5:52:34 PM by Seraphem

I haven't even seen that, although that doesn't mean much because I live in Downtown Vancouver (which is particularly liberal and open-minded even by Canadian standards). Where do you live?

Since MLP is made in Downtown Vancouver, I think my own Creator Provincialism is fine and I'm allowed to pretend that Equestria's social values mimics where I live.

The grass desert that is Saskatchewan.

In Canterlot Wedding, Soarin's shirt and badge were the Canadian Air Force Dress uniform(Specifically a Lieutenant, I believe), so they at least visually take cues from Canada.

And yeah, Saskatchewan would probably be worse about that. I remember Manitoba being pretty Canada-Conservative as well. The Prairies are pretty much the South of Canada.

Guys, I found this weirdest fic about how much Rumble and Thunderlane love each other called Big Horseshoes... and it doesn't degenerate into a horrid clopfic!

Oh, that's really cool. I had no idea.

(As if there wasn't already enough evidence that the Wonderbolts are part of the military. )

edited 28th Jul '15 7:37:04 PM by Unknownlight

Attempted to lop the shortest couple fics (courtesy of EQD) off my Read Later. Crime and Funishment was kind of dumb fun, but it felt like it couldn't pick a tone and whether or not the characters were supposed to be sympathetic or caricatures, and the self-parody treated its own arc with enough apathy that I couldn't really care either. For the Benefit of Mr. Kite... feels like Solitary Locust all over again. Come for the Mind Screw, stay for the mental Torture Porn.

I just go ahead and have it in my alt-verse that most ponies are bi with few exceptions.* They don't even really have words for it. Ask one about her sexuality, she'll have to explain it.*

*So far I have it that Rarity like feminine colts and manly mares, Rainbow avoids mares in that context because they make her feel "competitive" rather than "mushy", Applejack wants somepony pretty and soft and most likely a mare, Pinkie Pie happens to like whomsoever she happens to like at any given moment, Fluttershy is the opposite of Rarity and Twilight is too busy speculating what everypony's babies might look like.

Where's the line between immortality and being a lich/revenant/etc.?

Alicorns are obviously long lived, and obviously magic is involved. Perhaps it's a question of sustenance—subsisting only on magic turns one into a revenant, and eating regular food makes one "alive".

Which means that Luna was technically a revenant for the time she was on the moon.

Immortal means you don't die, the latter are all undead creatures. Beings whose mortal body did die, but whose spirit/soul/essence continued existing as some kind of magical being/construct.

Finally finished the first chapter of All-American Girl. Wouldn't say it was horrible, though kind of sad (and really talky at points). Really could have just been its own story.

Wish you were able to create a block-filter based on story category, because I find anthro incredibly fucking creepy and would like being given the option of never having to see it.

edited 30th Jul '15 10:39:30 AM by Pannic

I can't help but wonder "What's the point?" when I see an anthro story. It's a stupid, half-hearted change that takes away from the characters without adding anything of value in return.