Pony Fanfiction Thread

Yeesh, I just realized that ADB is now over 250,000 words long.

Hey. Hey. Hey guise.

Palindrome Page.

Well, it's time for me to ask for prereaders for chapter 8 as I have already published 7 and I don't have any yet.

And also to beg for prereaders for The Legend of Snowcatcher the Irreverent again

New story what needs proofing? I can give it a look-see when I return from camping.

Funny you should ask... cuz, Chapter 7 update.

While I can understand people in this thread preferring prereaders that they are familiar with, leaving a chapter unedited is never a good idea. When no one responds to your request for editors that is usually a good sign to look elsewhere.

I have had very good experiences with the Proofreader Group—I get most of my editors there, and as long as you vet people before contacting them, getting a dud is very rare. While I use it less often, I have also had good experiences with WRITE—I haven't actually requested a review from them, but whenever I encounter a reviewer (either on someone else's story or in the PRG) they tend to be very thorough and capable.

No one in this thread has responded to my last 3 or 4 requests for editors (with the notable exception of Sereg)—I would encourage anyone who doesn't get a response here to try some new avenues for advice.

Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't gotten a chance to look over anything lately. I'm having enough trouble keeping up with my own writing, and I don't want to offer help to anybody else and then not be able to do it.

This is from the Ponies With Pikes page, which is an amazing resource:

:D

Maybe Alicorn magic stacks Exponentially, while normal pony magic is Linear.

EDIT: Also, Latest one-shot just went live.

edited 19th May '14 1:44:10 PM by JapaneseTeeth

I didn't intend my previous post to be a complaint—as someone who hasn't edited something for someone else in a pretty long time, I certainly don't begrudge anyone else for being busy.

I respect the opinions of everyone in this thread, but at some point one needs to step outside their comfort zone if they want to grow as a writer. Not only because people might be busy, but because varying your editors can help you see problems that others might have missed. I try and get at least one editor I have never worked with before on all my stories, and so far it has been a good experience. If You Came to Conquer had some of the most relevant advice from the editor I hadn't worked with, and the ones I had ended up repeating some of his advice .

It was more of a general statement than anything. Several people have given me helpful feedback and I feel kinda bad that I can't contribute more. Unfortunately, right now I'm trying to juggle my ongoing story, finishing up some unfinished oneshots (which has been going well; I've knocked out three of them, two of which went up on EQD and the third hasn't gotten a response yet), and trying to get my original stuff started.

@ Power Imbalance: it's the sort of thing authors rarely think about, but, well, the Elements of Friendship are a threat that dwarfs Superman in terms of political danger. Thankfully this is not Watchmen and the Princesses would never dare ask for the Elements to be used in international conflict... right?

Also, I've been reading Tolstoi's War And Peace recently and it's such a lot of fun! It violates about a billion rules of Show, Don't Tell and Purple Prose and Department of Redundancy Department and whatnot, and it does it with panache. The characters are fleshy, the plot is is flowy, the humour and irony are snappy. It kicks ass.

I wonder if we have any long pony stories in that style?

edited 19th May '14 2:10:39 PM by TheHandle

Given that the elements are specifically tied to social interaction, it's entirely possible that they might not even work if you tried to use them in a situation that didn't merit it. I.e. if you're in a state of mind where you're willing to blast someone who doesn't deserve it, you likely wouldn't be in the right state of mind to use the elements anyway. The power is directly tied to attitude; it might not be possible to misuse them in that way.

I'd have to disagree. A lot of war is about fighting for your friends in The Squad, your Band of Brothers, your Fire-Forged Friends, againt "Them." Whether the Enemy deserves the violence isn't even part of the question.

The mentions of the Yugoslavian conflict and Somalian civil war on that page are pretty much tasteless enough to overshadow everything else on it.

edited 19th May '14 2:26:12 PM by BornIn1142

can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on with this story? it's a part of a big string of "This story is a sequel to..." links that eventually loops back to itself.

But we've never seen the Elements effect anything that isn't a massive, magical evil abomination. So regardless of state of mind, it's likely the target also matters. It can't just zap anything and destroy it or convert it, only purge or contain certain evil powers.

@Handle: That's true in real life, but there's no indication that Equestria works the same way. Like Seraphem said, there's never been an indication where any sort of "Friendship magic" has ever been used against a foe who didn't deserve it. The fact that the magic is literally powered by positive attitudes and emotions leads me to believe that it wouldn't work if it was used out of malice or selfishness. War may have an Us vs. Them mentality, but the show's emphasis on social interaction leads me to think that it would attempt to get rid of the Us v.s Them dichotomy and try to find a better solution.

The only gray area is in the case of a conflict where there neither side is "bad" so to speak; like two groups fighting over a limited resource that both have legitimate claims to. And even then I'm not sure the elements would work.

edited 19th May '14 3:00:02 PM by JapaneseTeeth

@The Handle: The fact that other nations have been becoming uncomfortable with the massive increases in power that Equestria has been getting recently is quite important in my fanverse.

And those threats, I could see the Elements smacking down. If ANYONE needs a massive rainbow powered friendship enema it's Noa.

Now I want someone to write that story: a universe where, due to time travel shenanigans and a stable time loop every story is actually a sequel to another story, going down forever.

Also, do we know anything about smoking in the pony universe? Has anything resembling cigarettes or ashtrays or drugs or anything every shown up? just a random question.

Nope, nothing even close that I can think of. Well except for how Pinkie Pie acts.

I think the ability to shoot magic lasers, create sieges and droughts with weather, and fly and have super durability would be more important wartime commodities than the Elements of Harmony (regardless of how the latter work mechanically). The threat of superweapons come from repeatability and reliability, not simply their potency. In fact, I once had a plot bunny about just that, but I never did anything with it.

edited 19th May '14 3:13:55 PM by CleverPun

Yeah, the ponies already had the market cornered on superweapons what with the whole controlling the sun thing. The elements of harmony are powerful, but that's all they are. They aren't very versatile or applicable to precise situations.

So what do you guys think about a Bravely Default crossover. Enlong says that it wouldn't work and I have my doubts for how it happening without Canon Defilement