I hate crossovers.

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What's her name, /fimfic/?

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2+#1 for best duo!
Enjoy this conveniently packaged Tuna: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/41152/within-the-seas-of-the-galaxies

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Fourth for Princess Luna's successful pregnancy!

I've made absolutely no progress so far on my story for the anthology. Every idea I've had is flawed to me in some important way. How are you guys faring?

>>42506798
Asphyxia

>>42506798
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/184037/insufficient
I re-read it a couple of years ago, and it still brought me some enjoyment. A shame it'll never end.

I don't usually read HiE, is it normal for there to be deviantautists writing anonfics where it's just some guy named 'anon' that doesn't really act like a 4chan user? I had to do a triple-take seeing an "anon in g5" story on the front page from an account with blogposts about drama with deviantart users and petitions to let them rewrite the plots of pre-existing movies but with ponies pasted on top.

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>>42506846
Anon started here, but he's now a character that the average fan outside of here is aware of.

>>42506798
I'm still mad Re:Harmony died.

>>42506829
I've been making good progress on my Plan B idea, though I'm not a big fan of it.

>>42506829
I went to a library today where it was finally quiet and knocked out a bunch of words.

>>42506829
I am literally bedbound and hallucinating regularly and with the strongest fever I've ever had. Sadly I cannot manage to record my delirium to submit that as a fic either.

>>42506846
>I had to do a triple-take seeing an "anon in g5" story on the front page from an account with blogposts about drama with deviantart users and petitions to let them rewrite the plots of pre-existing movies but with ponies pasted on top.
Give a link, I wanna read the drama posts

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>>42506829
I may need to tap out. Not one good idea has come to me since we first agreed on the theme, and ouside of one-sentence notes, I haven't written a single word. Unless I have one of those miraculous bouts of inspiration over the weekend, I'm not going to have anything to share.

>>42507174
Literally on the front page right now.

>>42507323
His blogs are a depressing sight. Apparently he's a depressed 33 year old South African being made fun of for his appearance and using Christianity to cope alongside a community of like-minded people. I hope I'm in a better place when I'm 33

>>42507405
>I hope I'm in a better place when I'm 33
That's easy, just don't go to South Africa.

>>42507405
>using Christianity to cope alongside a community of like-minded people

Desu nobody who actually cares about the divine and god is making shitty anon fanfiction. False idols dot jpg.

>>42506798
More like left unfinished

>>42506831
The Princess of Suffocation

>>42506871
Next time, don't bump into the bookshelves.

>that Fimmy update Knighty was gonna do and put up an announcement for but then delayed due to issues still isn't out
It's over, isn't it?

>>42507970
That's knocked *over*.

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>>42508003
He's forced to stay on task by registering accounts for people coming in on Discord. You can call it after those stop coming in if you want it to be over so bad

>>42508095
With enough force, one can send tomes flying /out/ of their shelves.

>>42506871
>where it was finally quiet
Hm I wonder who is it that cannot manage the task of being quiet in the library hmmmmmmm

>>42508255
Luna?

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>>42508321
If she can't keep quiet through all the nice things Twilight's doing to her, can she really be blamed?

>>42508431
This is why you gag your subs when fucking them with children on the next side of the wall, but I suppose the idea of kids getting exposed to sex excites you.

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>>42508465
Obsessed.
Spike doesn't exist.

>>42506792
Nice, two of the ITT references are mine this time. I'm going up in the world.

>>42508555
If you have to write Spike out of a Twilight centered ship or fic you should not be writing anything Twilight centric.

>>42506829
I finally hit my stride with my entry.
It's going to end up a bit more somber than I initially intended, but I really like the story I have going.
Here's hoping I finish in time.

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>>42508624
Well, that's obvious. You shouldn't need to spend any effort writing out something that doesn't exist.

>>42508624
Some people just can't accept their waifu is a single mom.

>>42508684
That's like waifuing Rarity and not being ready to molest Sweetie Belle.

>>42508555
What are the foals in Cheerilee's class?

>>42508739
>implying swebbles won't seduce you and get you to cuck rares with her herself as further proof she's the superior sister

>>42508762
Certainly, one's first heat can be hectic.

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>>42508742
Nowhere worth being concerned about.

Hetalia is still fucking going, huh? Also no wonder it had such a strong female fandom with a mostly male cast. Anyway, this is probably the pic anon was asking for a while ago. https://i.warosu.org/data/cgl/img/0078/91/1413953645040.jpg
>>42508684
You can say that about most of the M6 (and be correct about 2 of them).

>>42508919
>2
Twilight and... Applejack?

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Yeehaw

>>42508949
Rarity. Even beyond the memes she's practically Sweetie's caretaker as their parents fuck off on permanent vacation.

>anon tries to date one of the mane 6 but not end up a single dad

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>>42506829
The word limit's still 10k? Where should we submit it when it's done?

Just remembered about that part in WoE where it copies the LotR scene of Sméagol killing his brother and I've also realised that unlike that scene in which the Ring is involved here Ritz Cracker is just a mentally ill dick.

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>>42506867
>>42506871
>>42508659
I'm glad you guys are having better luck than I am. I just finished asking some buddies for inspiration, and I think I've got something I can write by the deadline. Anthologies are so much fun; this has been my year of anthologies, certainly.

>>42507076
>>42507301
I'm sorry to see you guys struggling too. This makes me wonder if we're going to have enough entries. I expect to ask for an extension to the deadline already, kek.

>>42509076
Bug xTSGx, I guess.

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How populous do you think ponyville or equestria in general should be in a fic?

For ponyville I’ve seen anywhere from just above dunbars number to several thousand. And for equestria I’ve seen anything from the low millions to the same as the modern U.S.

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>>42509480
Equestria has Manehattan and other metropolises, so at least low millions, but most of the population is there. Most of the population is in those cities, though. Ponyville has less than a thousand ponies. Other farming villages barely affect the total count, despite providing all of the food needed to support them.
Anywhere else on the planet not tamed by Equestria is nearly uninhabitable, and so, uninhabited.

>>42509480
It should be the same population as Clay Center, Kansas.

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>>42509480

>>42509460
Myself, I thought this was a fun prompt, but I haven't had anything grab me and make me want to write it. It could still happen, but it's unlikely. Maybe I can manage a 250 word shitpost, but I can't see myself producing much more.

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>>42509480
Considering the fucked up tenchnological level of Equestria, it's hard to say. Probably below ten million at the most. Villages, though, are roughly defined population-wise. Ponyville's called a town even though it's barely half the size of one, so... around 100 to 300?

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>>42509623
I tried to count the number of buildings in that picture, and I got 133. That's probably too generous. It wasn't always clear whether I was looking at two adjacent buildings or one with complicated architecture, but I tended to err on the side of overcounting. If all the buildings are occupied by families with two adults and two kids (again, probably an overcount), then you end up with 532 ponies.
On the other hand, pic rel shows a lot more buildings. I didn't count, but maybe three times as many? So about 2,000 ponies max? I don't know how trustworthy the pic is, though. I saved it once, but I no longer have any idea what it's from.

>>42509508
Alternate question, was adding modern cities that were analogous to real world cities equestria a mistake?

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>>42509691
No, because they have a nightlife.

I wish for more content written in the style of Disco Elysium but there are only two fics on fimfiction when i search it up. Surely there are more, maybe even some greens?

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>look up show screenshots to verify your conspiracy fic
>tfw King Guto didn't die heroically defending Griffonstone from the Arimaspi but instead lived to see his kingdom collapse around him and his legacy as the king that doomed his species secured

>>42508003
Was this ever actually even confirmed? Neither Knighty nor Xaquseg have posted a blog in years and none of the anons that mentioned it ever posted a Discord screenshot or anything.

>>42509076
There's not really a hard word limit. It just shouldn't be something crazy like 30k.

>Where should we submit it when it's done?
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/204388/voting/thread/561635/2025-collab-attempt
Drop a gdoc or "private" fimfic link in the thread.

>>42509480
I've always imagined Ponyville having a few hundred residents given it's a one school rural farm town of thatched roof houses with seemingly no other industry or economic output. Yeah, some episodes have some weird things a small town probably wouldn't have (the clock tower, the big hospital, the dam, etc.) but they're almost always plot-based, then disappear when they're no longer relevant, like something from a meta horror oneshot.

Equestria has multiple large cities and is a huge continent-spanning country, so I've always pegged it close to late 1800s America (~50,000,000).

>>42509691
I wish they'd worked harder to differentiate them from their real life counterparts, but I'm fine having large "modern" cities in the setting. Manehattan didn't need to just be New York with some horse stuff slapped on the landmarks. They could have really opened up the imagination, maybe give it more of a BTAS/Bioshock art deco magitech thing or something, but one can say lack of imagination was a constant problem in the late show.

My r63 non-fetish fic is finished. Now only to rewrite it until the end of time!

>>42506792
>outie belly buttons
fluttershy has one.

>>42506792
About to start reading "The Haunting" by admiral biscuit. Have yall read it? Is it shit?

>>42509819
There was literally a message on top off the site saying "we'll be down awhile tomorrow for an update" or somesuch. Day comes, site goes down, site comes up half an hour later or so, message now reads "there were some problems but we'll do the update later". Few days after the message is gone, and the update never happened.

>>42509819
>They could have really opened up the imagination, maybe give it more of a BTAS/Bioshock art deco magitech thing or something
G5 stays winning.
>>42509623
Here's your daily reminder that the way things are presented in media (especially animation) does not correspond one to one with the way things are within the narrative universe of the story. Same way all the characters in LotR actually have different names and the ones we read are merely an English adaptation carrying similar meaning, except rarely to that degree of explicitness because only Tolkien had the autism to make up multiple functioning languages. In most cases the filtering of what you're seeing relatively to what is really happening is merely implied, but definitely there.

>>42509716
There's that one fic that rips off Slay The Princess, which is inspired by Disco Elysium

>>42510008
No, but I've read other Admiral Biscuit stories. Do you know what you're getting into? He tends to write slow SoL. They're good stories for that genre, but they're still that genre.

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>>42510365
Is reading slow burn SOL mlp fanfic gay?

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Heh...

>>42510869
You'd be.one too.

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>>42510869

It only makes sense, Luna as medieval og extraordinaire self-flagellates for absolution.

>>42511348
It's called masturbation, buddy.

>>42511273
cant you at least say something fimfic related when you post luna bumps? link a luna fic or post a schizo ramble nobody cares about or something.

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>>42511586
Maybe deleting bumps is "better", but having more pictures of ponies on /mlp/ can never be a bad thing.

>>42511605
How many Rarabuse pictures for you to eat those words?

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>>42511767
You can never have enough rarabuse.

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>>42511767
The term "pictures of ponies" assumed pure (well, impure is fine, too) intent. Posting ponies, that is.
Subversive shitposters—or worse, people who have such awful taste that they post those genuinely—need not apply.

>>42512156
You do realize that the shitposter outwitted you, and no amount of autistic coping about semantics is gonna change that? Pony abuse pics are still technically pony pics, so now he can shit up the thread with them to own you at your own game.

>>42512210
>to own you at your own game
Actually I'd post them because Rarity with blood running from her nose saying a shaky thanks as you put out a cigarette on her tongue is hot.

>>42512270
You're not just a faggot, you're actually homosexual.

>>42506794
I LOVE CROSSOVERS

What's /mlp's opinion on https://www.fimfiction.net/story/86528/lost-to-the-sands? Thinking of rereading it after a year but I don't remember how it goes and if it'll hold up to my expectations.

>>42512512
>Chinese translation
Of course a fic about helplessness appeals to them.

>>42512485
>it's gay to treat females like objects
What happened to society, man?

>>42512584
It's gay to treat women or women expies such as whorety with anything even approximating intimacy. Either go for purehearted mares or fuck a femboy.

Has the show or additional material ever given a direct explanation of what "Harmony" is?

>>42512615
ALWAYS

>>42512615
God.

>>42512615
God.

>>42512615
Gods love
Or if your lame then I guess reciprocity and order or something like that.

Why do so many schizos lately use this thread as their designated shitting spot

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>>42512843
The site attracts schizos and the board attracts schizos.
We're also a designated thread for a creative endeavor which always, always attracts the biggest schizos.

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>>42512615
No, so you can make cool interpretations of it to your hearts content! Is it organised? Does it have places of worship? Do they worship? Is it mainly philosophical? Do little ponies have little pony debates about 'harmony theology'?

>>42512873
I don't think I've ever seen a fic that tried to be serious about harmony theology. If it's anything like the real world, you'll have competing ideas, great thinkers, schisms, esoteric debates about how many rainbows will fit on the head of a pin, personal grievances that spill over into academic literature, etc. That could be entertaining if done well.

>>42512843
>lately

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https://www.fimfiction.net/story/581114/i-took-a-slight-tumble-onto-an-active-roadway-and-got-magically-reincarnated-into-a-different-world-based-upon-the-show-my-little-pony-and-the-game-fallout-in-the-side-fic-of-fallout-equestria-known-as-project-horizons-as-a-stable-99-stallion
It started as a shitpost but npw I'm invested in the story

>>42513163
Stop trying to spam your fucking fic here. You're not subtle. You're not clever. You're not even trying, considering you always just post the link and a short sentence. Piss off.

>>42512959
>great thinkers

I have 30 government credits to spend on books before tomorrow is over. Recommend me something to buy with them.

>>42513662
30 copies of the Turner Diaries.

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>>42513662

>>42513738
I can't read German yet but it's on the list.

>>42513512
Theology is the oldest academic discipline and, rightly or wrongly, has attracted some of history's greatest thinkers. And it's particularly interesting in an Equestrian context because Harmony is a visible force.

>>42513803
I think architecture is older.

>>42513810
That's a practical discipline, not an academic one. You can actually accomplish something with architecture.

Have (you) ever used mlp elements or inspirations in your non fanfiction writing?

>>42513813
Physics in the old interpretation of it might be considered older than theology, but it depends on how you classify either because early physics is literally just made up bullshit fundamentally intertwined with theology.

>>42513822
I have a character in my novel nicknamed DT. Take a wild guess as to what inspired her character.

>>42513165
I should apologize to the thread. I was the first one to bring up ITASTOAARAGMRIADWBUTSMLPATGFITSFOFO:EKAPHAAS99S (in >>42474573) because I saw it in the feature box and thought the title was funny. I didn't expect someone to start spamming it. Now I'm finding it rather annoying and wish I had never mentioned it.

>>42513835
>nicknamed DT
Alcoholism?

>>42513662
Anon this is the horse sex board not /lit/.
And why don’t you just pirate whatever book you are interested in?

>>42513915
Because the government credits are expiring one way or another and books are one of the few things they're good for, so I might as well buy some physical ones. I like reading on paper anyway. Plus something like House of Leaves probably works a lot worse in digital.

>>42513885
She's not brave enough to kill herself the slow and socially acceptable way while it's still illegal for her to do so.

>>42513165
>1 post
nigga chill

>>42513163
I'm loving it, keep up the good work writechad

>>42513984
What else are they good for?

>>42514092
>>1 post
It's not; look up the title in the archives. Shilling your fic here is good, but doing it while pretending to be a reader is big gay.

>>42514102
>samefagging
I didn't downvote you before, but I have now.

>>42514298
I didn't pretend to be a reader
I'm saying I started it as a shitpost but got kind of invested in the story

>>42514129
A select number of tech products in specific stores (which I already got what I could be interested in from), museum tickets but I'm not planning any trips atm, and I think a bunch of other stuff but it tends to be only certain items in certain categories and it becomes a whole process of checking if the shop in question even takes them and then whether they're good for a given item. Books are about the only thing you can reliably know to use them for, though only restricted to a set of sellers (which is why I could not nab a copy of Infinite Jest).

>>42506798
Has any fic ever gone from On Hiatus to finished

>>42514619
Yes.

>>42514629
I don't believe you.

>>42514495
What sort of tech products? You never know when you could use another usb drive.

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>>42514670
Great point Dashie.

Fics about cumming inside rainbow dash?

>>42515025
Do you really need help finding those? Because you shouldn't.

>>42515025
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/201134

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>>42515082
It's harder than it should be, given Fimmy's atrocious tagging system.
>>42515169
GOOD ANSWER, GOOD ANSWER

>>42515180
It's as easy as https://www.fimfiction.net/stories?q=%23rainbow-dash+%23porn+creampie&order=latest

>>42515169
Fics about *consensually* cumming in rainbow dash?

>>42515200
Description bloat is an insult to the very concept of metadata.

>>42515217
This argument has been had many times before, and I still think that tagging is a high-effort, high-maintenance system. At least, that's the impression I get from Derpi and AO3's tagging systems. When it works, it pays off, but you need to have a substantial number of volunteers before that's possible.

>>42515217
Try finding character specific pairing agnostic porn on Ao3.

>>42515208
https://foalfetch.net/story/86771

>>42515180
>It's harder than it should be, given Fimmy's atrocious tagging system.
Don't groups effectively act as a tagging system?

>>42515231
From what I've seen, AO3 has a lot of weird tags that don't mean anything beyond their one use. You know what I mean, a tag like "such and such kills so and so because I was having a bad day" is really just a "tag" that belongs in the description. Derpibooru's tagging system is great, however; it always pains me to use another site's tags knowing how much better they could be. Some sites don't even allow negative tags. It's been discussed in these threads before, years ago, but anyone needs to be able to add tags for this to work. If only the creator can add tags, then there will be too much missing for them to be useful, every time.

>>42515231
>When it works
For the record, it does not work in Ao3. It works on boorus because all that's needed to know what is in a pic is looking at it. Meanwhile, good luck reading a whole 130k fic to see it the specific ship tagged is actually in it. Oh, by the way, it's only in a single scene, but because you've made your search fun around tags alone now everyone looking for fics about that ship will have to stare at this irrelevant fix and try to decipher if the ship is relevant in it or not. Gets massively worse if you're looking for porn, because now people will tag secondary characters who don't have sex in a sex fic which will muddy your results when you search for fics about that character having sex. This is not a problem with images because there's only so much content in most images, but it is a huge issue with fics.

>>42515257
Ao3 and Derpi literally have the same tagging system. You can go on Derpi right now and make up a new tag and put it on whatever you want, like whoever was arbitrarily tagging hundreds of pics with Shining's dick in them [Splitting Spear] some years ago. The difference is if someone sees a picture and notices a tag is wrong or missing it takes seconds to correct it. Meanwhile it's near impossible for you to see a fic tagged with something and tell if the tag is appropriate without reading it.

>>42515266
>You can go on Derpi right now and make up a new tag and put it on whatever you want
Yeah, I made a tag that retroactively touched images made a decade ago.

>The difference is if someone sees a picture and notices a tag is wrong or missing it takes seconds to correct it. Meanwhile it's near impossible for you to see a fic tagged with something and tell if the tag is appropriate without reading it.
That's a very good point, yeah.

I don't know, isn't this one reason people may follow authors more than artists? If you like an author's work, you can get your expectations met on average, whereas it's much less common for someone to follow artists over tags on boorus.

>>42515280
An author publishing is a happening. An artist posting is Tuesday.

>>42515266
>Splitting Spear
He would name it that, dork.

>>42515334
Okay, Twilight.

>>42515280
In part I think it's sunk costs. Reading a fic takes a lot longer than looking at an image. Even a hundred words is more effort than a glance at a picture. So with writing, you have a lot more incentive to filter by quality, and one of the easiest and most reliable measurements of quality is whether you liked other stories by the same author.

>>42515382
Do you think she and Cadance gossip

>>42515449
They both have experience taking Shining's dick, so I'm sure they swap stories now and then.

>>42515449
Yes.

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>>42515231
Believe me, I know the struggle of fending off the fandom's collective retardation in the interests of pony preservation. The biggest problem with fixing Fimmy's tags would be going through every story ever published to add whatever's needed. Twilicorn alone would be a huge endeavor.
>>42515257
>Derpibooru's tagging system is great
Compared to other sites? Yeah. On its own merits, it's a mess of misnomers, gordian knots, and descriptivist/perscriptivist flip-flopping, which isn't helped by Derpi's mods being incompetent buffoons.

>>42515462
>going through every story ever published to add whatever's needed
Just use AI

>>42515462
>engage derpi search
>filter: human, anthro, eqg
>still see barbies every time
Mods! Mods! Come and earn your keep! You've got zero dollars and zero cents on the line, here!

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>>42515468
>>engage derpi
Well there's your problem.

>>42515468
Filter humanized too you dumb fuck.

>>42515515
Oh, forgive me for not intuiting that 'human' apparently isn't synonymous with 'humanized'. What does a pony become after you humanize it, exactly? And what tag follows from that outcome?

>>42508919
JESUS
FUCKING
CHRIST

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>>42515547
And the worst part was it was an accident.

>>42515558
I just noticed the Twilight + Luz Noceda

>>42512843
Half of the thread is very high IQ, so we are amazing when we're off topic.

>>42515574
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand FiM fiction. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of harmonious metaphysics most of the jokes will go over a typical reader's head. There's also the writer's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from pre-S3 literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about HARMONY. As a consequence people who dislike horsewords truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Twilight Sparkle's existencial catchphrase "Friendship is magic," which itself is a cryptic reference to Pen Stroke's epic Past Sins I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Lauren Faust's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. And yes by the way, I DO have a cute mark tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the mares' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

>>42515522
Human is for disgusting things with tainted souls. A humanized pony retains the pure spirit of a superior being.

>>42515632
A humanized pony is that same pure, superior creature pressed unnaturally into a warped and unfitting form. It's a squared circle that chafes against its new edges and corners. There is nothing to be gained by humanizing a pony except through a lens of sadism.

>>42515547
The whole picture is such a beautiful spectrum of human emotions. You can tell a few of them have realised this might be a terrible idea and are either sinking into despair or increasingly frumious at everyone around them.
Third standing from the left is 100% into it though. She's putting her whole body into that.

>>42512959
I did scrap a fic about harmony theology. It was about a pony after hearths warming being sent by some conclave to try and explain harmony to a tribe of ponies yet to accept it. The leaders of the tribe were Celestia and Luna. But it turns out fantasy theology is kind of niche and hard to write without sounding like an idiot.

>>42513662
Composite warfare: the conduct of successful ground force operations in Africa

>>42513662
Don't listen to >>42515707 . You must only study the art of Soviet deep operations and Cold War mobility warfare. P.S. ponies or something.

>>42515691
That sounds like it has the potential to be a cult classic. The AiE-loving general audience of Fimfiction won't appreciate it, but it will grow a reputation as a serious and profound contribution to literature.

>>42515654
I feel like that pic raises an important question: Would you?

>>42516268
One of my biggest problem is, what were Celestia and Luna like before harmony? Maybe NMM and Daybreaker are their original states until they were convinced of harmony; it would make Luna's fall more her slipping back into old ways. I don't know.

>>42516554
More than half of them at a glance, I think.

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Can anyone recommend me a needlessly complicated spy thriller ?

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Boop, but also expect ~35 min delay on the bookclub, sorry.

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Going on a Dangerous Business in,
>/FSBC/

You can run into old posts claiming that DB, OTEM, and Austraeoh defined the "ponies go on an adventure" genre. Perhaps that is fine, since despite being flawed, all of those fics are pretty good. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Lost and Found yet.

I was sick this week, but honestly, if not for the bookclub, I'm not sure I'd even finish it! But before getting too negative, let's recap the good in the fic. Firstly, it's a certified Oldfic, with all that this entails. Expect many, many references to parts of S1+S2 episodes; this is something that old stories do a lot. Secondly, this Equestria is firmly the one we know from the show, and you can expect the plot to try to bind itself to the events that have been described in S1/S2, such as HWE, Princesses(+NMM), Elements, Discord, etc. And indeed, it appears to be an Elements fic. The atmosphere, while not really trying to keep 'pony', is definitely oldfic-flavored, which is good. We start with the "Mane6 SoL until [X]" adventure setup progressing that's extremely emblematic of the era.
Also, the writing is not excellent, but it's serviceable for 2012, which makes it a positive outlier worth mentioning, even as I'll soon complain about it.

What is not good are these ponies. Sweet Luna, maybe it's the point, but the first 80 pages are horrible. Just ponies being mean-spirited and bitchy. Nonstop, over and over, for more than half of this week's reading. This includes all of M6, the Princesses, M6's interactions with the Princesses—no one is spared. And yeah, I get "Twilight doubts Celestia" as a plot point, but not like this, I beg thee, author. This is just bad. It's not the only oldfic that does this, either; I think clarifying a better grasp on what "pony" atmosphere means is one of the biggest general improvements in fic writing over time. Grammar is the other.
Anyway! I will not complain about the pacing of the story, since I think it's okay, and this "slow adventure" tone can work—and has worked—for many oldfics. What plainly did not work was the pacing within each section, in each scene. It's absolutely at its worst in the AJ&FS section of the adventure, where lengthy "AJ and FS walked in straight line for two weeks" section will be randomly broken with a single paragraph of super important ruins before switching back into the monotone adventure. What I mean is that the parts that should be important get completely lost in the narration, the author spending zero effort on making them stand out. I think this is the biggest difference between this fic and the three "classics" I mentioned at the start of the post—the cool setpieces are just not given the words or narrative importance that they should get. The characters seemingly just from place to place, and following them through the paragraphs is unnecessarily unintuitive.

The later parts were better, which inspires at least a little hope for next week.
Next week: up to 22.

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>>42517226
>>42517226
>"Apples."
This story is actually very good. It set some low expectations at the start with its prologue filled with meandering descriptions of every thought that passes through Flutters' head and that early-fic habit of giving dull call-backs to as many episodes as possible. As soon as Twilight yet again fucks things up for everypony involved, though, the story rapidly improves. I can't really tell if it's genuinely the skill of the author or merely getting to something actually interesting, but either way, my opinion of the fic totally flipped around chapter 3.

It's really nice how the adventure plot has an overarching historical theme. I've always thought the Hearth's Warming era and distant past is one of the more interesting parts of Equestrian lore, and it also affords AJ and Flutters' journey some greater significance than just trying to return to Ponyville. Twilight's B plot back in Equestria ties into it nicely, as well. Seeing a slightly more sinister side of Celestia and Luna is quite satisfying, especially given all the full-throated service the fandom usually lavishes them with. Alicorn conspiracies scratch a particular itch I've had since we read Celestia Code. What would be more satisfying is if, unlike Celestia Code, it doesn't turn out that they were secretly right and well-intentioned all along.

The plotline about Flutters' crush on Rainbow was surprisingly gripping. I was not expecting to feel this hard in an adventure fic, yet here we are! It offers a nice source of emotional tension and drama, and it's still very well integrated into the very physical dangers AJ and Flutters face with the Malices and windigos. That's a recurring theme in this fic, isn't it? Monsters that feed off of emotion -- very good choice of the author to rely on them. The drama is well paced, too; it feels like we consistently get meaningful progress and new information, yet there's still a good amount left to be developed. I also enjoyed seeing what little there was of Rainbow's thick-headed side of things back in Ponyville, and I hope we see more of her next week.

It probably doesn't need to be said, but the fic clearly takes a lot of influence from Off the Edge of the Map. I'd go so far as to say that the tension between the ostensible Flutterdash and the suggestions of Flutterjack (Appleshy?) shipping, as well as the overarching history plot, make it even a little more interesting. More ambitious, at any rate. The *prose* is distinctly not as good; there are certainly some malapropisms and grammatical errors here and there, and some areas where the author appears to simply give up trying to be pretty. However, it's again ambitious, and I can appreciate that the author tries at all. Looking forward to next week and hope the fic continues to improve.

>>42517369
>all the full-throated service the fandom usually lavishes them with
Why wouldn't we? Their marecocks really do deserve it.

>>42517386
>sucking off a prostitute
Does /fimfic/ really?

>>42517369
>all the full-throated service the fandom usually lavishes them with
Really? Most of the time people complain because secretly sinister princesses is such an overdone cliche.

>>42517498
The princesses are not whores. You don't pay for them; you worship them.

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>>42517226
I'm liking this a lot so far. The prologue did a great job of getting me hooked, something about the m6 just fucking around made for an appealing start to an adventure for me. And I liked how all of the m6 got fucked over and had little adventures, they just all got back home quickly aside from ajshy. And I really liked the interesting lore on the locations they got sent to. I like all of the character interactions as well*. Which I think is why I like the ponyville chapters a bit more, since there's more of that. Although there is the significant caveat that the first arc is everypony being more and more mean with each other. I liked the ajshy part of this, but not really the Rainbow sperging out part. And when I say I liked it I mean it made me feel intentionally unsettled and anxious and it built a lot of tension. Which got properly released later on. Now that I think about it though, it seemed to start almost immediately which doesn't make sense with the evil spirits all the way in the crater valley and them literally weeks of travel away. I would have to reread it to see when exactly it starts.
>something horrible happens to some of the m6
>the princesses were actually immediately informed and respond appropriately*****
Wow, how immensely refreshing. I was not expecting this at all honestly. Their behavior is... interesting. I can appreciate not wanting them to immediately solve the problem and I think political blockages is a good way of doing that but unfortunately a lot of it comes off as weak. They aren't allowed to cast big spells? wtf does that even mean. Why would a country next to Equestria (first of all even know a big spell was cast) immediately assume some sort of hostile intention from the most peaceful nation to ever exist when they (the most magical beings on the planet) cast some magic? And they can't cross any borders? It's not an army mobilizing. Would the other countries really take offense to individual or small groups of pegasi flying around? Brighthoof seems to have done it just fine. They also don't seem to be doing anything. Maybe they're politicking but Twilight seems to be the only one trying anything at all with her research. But to clarify here, I do like the princesses in this fic and that they were brought in so quickly. The polarized opinions are interesting as well, based Luna saying 'fuck other countries, we should act.'
I liked all of the other m6 being horribly worried as well. Twilight forcing Rainbow to realize that all of her friends miss ajshy just as much was a kino idea, but as I said Rainbow herself drags that part down. Also I was really hoping for AJxShy and I guess I still am and there might be time for it but I was pretty disappointed when we, as per fucking usual, went down the RainbowxShy road. We'll see I guess. The beginning of ajshy reminded me of lost cities kinda but with the m6 instead of a rando as a narrator.

>>42517226
>this is something that old stories do a lot
And nobody has the foggiest idea why it was so obligatory.
>while not really trying to keep 'pony'
Really? I thought it was very much 'pony'. Sure, Rainbow makes some rude remarks, but everypony's on edge since the "accident", especially since their dear friends are still missing past the 22 minutes it usually takes to solve any issue. Before it happens, everypony's basically fine; the fic goes out of its way to show how considerate and trustworthy AJ is to Fluttershy. The entire "accident" only even occurs as a naive and whimsical attempt to get Flutters to feel better. "Mean-spirited and bitchy" is a mischaracterisation of the M6 for the most part. The only place where it *is* true is when AJ and Fluttershy are being manipulated by the Malices, and there it's only highlighted so much because the author's trying to demonstrate how unnatural it is. The real trouble there, I'd say, is the pacing drawing it out and making it overstay its welcome, which I concede is a problem with the fic.
>the Princesses
I actually like the contrast with the M6 here. Why the hell do the Princesses need to be so sacred all the time? When they're not totally sublime, they're wise and valiant and burdened and oh-so-sympathetic. Not that this goal precedes having a good story or characterisation, but the only way to have a good ancient-Princess-conspiracy fic is to have them be untrustworthy in some capacity. I also like the (cordial) conflict between Celestia and Luna within the fic itself, where it's suggested to some extent that Celestia is using her majesty as an excuse to keep her hooves clean and that Luna has her own doubts about the plan. It's a nice way of keeping to their show-canon personalities, just bent in a slightly antagonistic (not necessarily evil) direction.
>I think clarifying a better grasp on what "pony" atmosphere means
And what would you say that is? Because to me, a large part of that is characters having sincere and honest emotions with a good degree of innocence and naivete, and that's all present here.
>the pacing within each section, in each scene
Yes, I do have to agree with you here. A slow-paced story can be quite good, but it drags on here, especially in the earlier chapters. The actual buildup of the story is good—and I'll defend the author's instinct for plot development—but the plodding execution detracts from it. The problem with set pieces, I think, would be somewhat ameliorated if the in-between sections were cut by maybe a third. And yes, grammar is also an issue, but you can't say the author wasn't trying to test the limits of their skill.
>>42517386
Sometimes it can be fun to tease them with denial.

>>42517369
>It set some low expectations at the start
That's the Old Fic (tm) flavor! Yeah, not great objectively, but desu it's the only thing the fic has going for it for the first 8.5 chapters, before you learn of the malice spirits.
>Seeing a slightly more sinister side of Celestia and Luna is quite satisfying, especially given all the full-throated service the fandom usually lavishes them with.
Huh? Citation needed? I'm not sure they're doing that here, but it's is such a prevalent old trope that I groaned when the fic seemed to go in this direction as well. It's usually in bad fics, though, which this one... well. I'm withholding my judgement.
>Flutters' crush on Rainbow
It was good. I could've said a bit more about it, but I haven't actually finished the part of the fic we were supposed to read. The adventure in this is quite poor, maybe even very poor, but this one part of the fic really carried it out of the pits of Tartarus that the previous chapters tossed it into.
>Rainbow's thick-headed side of things back in Ponyville
When she's not lashing out at everypony around her, at least.
>a lot of influence from Off the Edge of the Map
You say that after reading these opening chapters? It borrows from the big three in probably equal amounts; the setup is DB'y either as a reference or a subconscious borrowing. Probably the former, considering how often the author reminds you of RD's scarf, which certainly is a clear reference given the way it's mentioned.
>The *prose* is distinctly not as good
Yes and no. Go and open the first chapter right now, and scroll to a random paragraph. I like that fic a lot, but it's written horribly carelessly, especially chapter 1. Errors are everywhere. Now, what salvages it is that author's much better grasp on the whole, you know, storytelling thing, and the ability to paint much prettier, more interesting scenes, which this fic most of the time doesn't even attempt. It's a big problem I have with it. The other was Mean6, but that seemed to have been an intentional story thing.

>>42517568
>I'm liking this a lot so far.
Well, I think that, for the first 9 chapters, it was the fic I was the lowest on in months, ha ha. It has recovered a lot since then, but it would need to keep that level to even earn the "good enough" mark of an updoot.
>something about the m6 just fucking around
The 2012 SOVL.
(to be continued later)

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>>42517226
I only read about 1/3 of this week's reading so far, but I've been enjoying it plenty. The first few chapters were the best, I especially liked the little details thrown into the environmental descriptions that mixed in the ponies emotional state and what they were worrying about at the time.

There were still several annoyances, especially synch/sync and rapport/report.

I also like that the princesses were immediately called in, and that they seem to be a lot more central to the story than a typical mission briefing-into-adventure situation. The best princess's right-to-the-point efficiency was a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing a bunch more of her soon.

There have been some serious red flags already, though. I stopped right after AJ and FS were railroaded onto the wasteland path to presumably the meeting of the tribes. The way the road "disappears" was written unnecessarily confusingly, and it sounded like they were being Discordified or otherwise just having their friendship crushed by unnecessarily not talking to each other. Reminds me a lot of the worst of Perytonia, but this fic doesn't seem to have the good parts of Perytons to offset that.

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>>42517568
>they just all got back home quickly aside from ajshy
This was surprising to me, yeah (in an amusing way). We cut to Twilight being back in the library, and I think "oh, it's a flashback or something", but no, they're all actually back home within a day.
>And I really liked the interesting lore on the locations they got sent to.
Absolutely, the deeper look into the tribes/tribal history is really nice. The subtle racism/tribalism here and there is a bit jarring ("no-earth-pony Sunday" at the spa!?) but it adds to the impression of a world where tribes are more culturally significant than usual.
Oh, and something else that's interesting is how Pinkie was "considered" by the Elements to be a pegasus, and Fluttershy and earth pony, which actually aligns with Lauren Faust's original concepts.
>it made me feel intentionally unsettled and anxious and it built a lot of tension
Is this not the point? We're still only 1/3 into the fic, and it's not like Rainbow has a lot to do other than fly around worrying (as she says herself). I think the influence of the Malices was on AJ and Flutters specifically as they got closer and closer to the valley, and Rainbow is just upset and lashing out because she has unresolved feelings towards Flutters, and losing her upset the status quo of her life. AJ *does* note that Rainbow doesn't really bother thinking too hard about stuff until it becomes a pressing issue, after all. We can't say too much about Rarity or Pinkie, and Twilight's bitterness is shown to be mainly due to the Princesses' inaction, which I don't think conflicts with canon.
>I think political blockages is a good way of doing that but unfortunately a lot of it comes off as weak
To me, it seemed more like they (i.e. Celestia) were making excuses to get Twilight to go away. Afterwards, Luna states that Twilight won't be satisfied and will eventually come back, and Celestia is all to happy to continue pushing things off. I don't think this Celestia is OOC (or at least the author doesn't intend it), so she probably has some plan to protect whatever hidden past exists, or at least to reveal it in a way that better suits her.
>The polarized opinions are interesting as well
Yeah, it was nice how they disagreed without fully veering into Luna Cypher-level angst or risking NMM round 2.
>Also I was really hoping for AJxShy
Same here; the author is convincing me in real time that it may be the best AJ M6 ship. Their relationship seems to be developing along the lines of OTEM, with AJ being the "protector" and "leader" for the most part. Ideally, we get a Fluttershy who develops conflicting feelings for both AJ and Rainbow while on the road, and a Rainbow who realises her own feelings for Fluttershy in her absence (maybe even encouraged by Flutters' parents), and then the happy return to Ponyville is complicated when Fluttershy suddenly can't reciprocate Rainbow's newfound feelings. Agh, I'm starting to feel like a fujoshi!

>>42517568
“I— I didn’t ask,” Fluttershy said.
fucking kek
>bunch of friendly animals
>fluttershy is as pure as a pony can be
kino. The evil spirit (thanks Starswirl) chapters are unsettling, but I like how Fluttershy is fighting internally to think of nice things like she knows something fucked up is happening to them mentally. And Fluttershy being maybe the only pony who could've exorcised them is kino. More so because she wasn't even aware they were under attack until the very end. Her natural instincts were just fighting back against the negative thoughts and emotions. I actually felt somewhat relieved when AJ decided to go with Fluttershy's plan after that.
>all sorts of animals giving food to fluttershy for saving the valley
Kino. I do wish we got to see it happen though, it has all just happened by being told to us unfortunately. But I like the idea that they know Fluttershy and AJ saved the valley and now there's more food than any animal could eat so they just hand the ponies heaps of the stuff.
>windigo just chillin in the mountain pass watching them
kek, but also interesting
>princess colored shield
Wonder if they had any part in this dreamspire
>"Let me show you some real magic," Applejack growled. "Earth pony magic that I have spent years makin'."
Kino.
Although by about where we got to Applejack's speech is beginning to be a bit too much for me. The author seems to be overcompensating. AJ can't just say, "This way." it has to be, "This way, sure as sugar." and it's getting annoying. It would make sense to see this stuff when she says more than a single line or while she's talking to Fluttershy specifically. But it's dogshit when every time she says a single line her countryisms more than double the amount of words she would've said otherwise.
>"I think he's just trying to scare us away."
Wtf how did we get to that? Some crazy logic here but sure, whatever.
>Applejack finally gets an apple
Lol good spot to end.

>>42517226
>Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Lost and Found yet.
>if not for the bookclub, I'm not sure I'd even finish it!
Huh? I was easily reading everything so far and it really doesn't seem like this fic would be offensive to anyone.
>>wordcount skipping to end of your post
>What plainly did not work
Nothing in this fic seemed to 'plainly not work' to me, although I'll agree the sudden passage of weeks of time was a surprise, and I'm not saying I like it. I think it was more about focusing on the deterioration ajshy's relations while FS got sick of hearing "Up and attem sug'." every morning through the monotony.
And as I said earlier I think had we gotta some more specifical scenes it could've helped. Like we hear about Fluttershy talking to all these animals for directions or food, but never once does that actually happen in a scene and the fauna is never described. Has FS seen any of these animals before or is it all new and weird? Surely she would have some general animal/habitat knowledge that might help

>>42517226
>What is not good are these ponies. Sweet Luna, maybe it's the point, but the first 80 pages are horrible. Just ponies being mean-spirited and bitchy. Nonstop, over and over
>This is just bad.
This seems like a wild take honestly. I disagree. They are having a fine time during the party or whatever and the spa before that. Then ajshy comes under attack from an ancient Starswirl psyop. (Although yes, I think it started a bit too early to be explained since they really weren't speaking plainly to each other for some reason) The only pony who is maybe actually in the wrong is Rainbow having her little melty. All the other ponies are sad their friends are missing but mostly just getting upset with Rainbow while she acts like a nigger. Some of them might be frustrated with the princesses but it's just because they're frustrated with the situation and the princesses seem to not be trying as hard as them (which is apparent to us as well as readers). Aside from Rainbow though, none of them are openly hostile to them. Twilight Even goes all the way to there out of frustration but just says, "uhhh.... I shouldn't have come here." and goes back home.
>The later parts were better, which inspires at least a little hope for next week.
??? You mean the parts where they stop being mean to each other because they solved the problem? I feel like you just didn't like the first arc because of what it was. I said earlier that I was intentionally unsettled which I meant to mean I was unsettled in the way the author wanted me to be. (As opposed to bug in the cave unsettled where someone said that Twilight was at the complete mercy of thorax. Or the river pony fairytale fic where he gets a state mandated refugee harem) And I had a bunch of similar opinions to you but maybe the more appropriate version of them. I also didn't particularly 'like' reading the ajshy part where they just passively aggressively deteriorate. And I was also upset at Dash for acting how she did. But that's also what the characters were thinking. FS also wasn't having fun and Twilight was also shocked and appalled by Rainbow's behavior. And at least confused enough by the princesses actions to confront them about it.
>Sweet Luna, maybe it's the point
I mean yeah, I think it was.

>>42517369
>This story is actually very good.
kek, agreed. Although I liked the prologue
>It's really nice how the adventure plot has an overarching historical theme.
Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by the lore dump about them getting sent pieces of the most ancient tribe locations. The lore was cool, although it's funny that the earth ponies dont have special rocks like the rest.
>Twilight's B plot back in Equestria ties into it nicely, as well.
Yeah I'm enjoying her chapters for sure. And they were a welcome break from ajshy getting psyoped

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>>42517499
Deeply flawed when it comes to personal affairs but ultimately good and well meaning princesses are the best ones.

>>42517765
This is the mindset that leads to writing about Twilight keeping Celestia submerged during their shared honey bath.

>>42517770
That doesn't seem particularly well meaning or good.

>>42517784
It makes sense in context.

>>42517770
>Twilight keeping Celestia submerged during their shared honey bath.
It was actually Celestia keeping Twilight submerged under hot water so she could unlock her latent magical powers.
Like that one scene in Mother 3!

>>42517369
>Seeing a slightly more sinister side of Celestia and Luna
I don't know if I'd go as far as to call them sinister kek, they're just having a harder time helping. But I am curious as to what they are always muttering to each other about. Maybe they are just up to no good
>What would be more satisfying is if, unlike Celestia Code, it doesn't turn out that they were secretly right and well-intentioned all along.
But why would they be bad-intentioned?
>The plotline about Flutters' crush on Rainbow was surprisingly gripping
ehh, It is fine, but I was just hoping for not flutterxdash
>Looking forward to next week and hope the fic continues to improve.
agreed

>>42517589
>Really? I thought it was very much 'pony'
Yeah I'm with you on this
>especially since their dear friends are still missing past the 22 minutes it usually takes to solve any issue.
kek
>the fic goes out of its way to show how considerate and trustworthy AJ is to Fluttershy. The entire "accident" only even occurs as a naive and whimsical attempt to get Flutters to feel better. "Mean-spirited and bitchy" is a mischaracterisation of the M6
completely agreed
>I actually like the contrast with the M6 here. I also like the (cordial) conflict between Celestia and Luna within the fic itself
Yeah, Twilight beginning to lose her perfect vision of the princess and her both of them being aware of it is interesting. And Luna asking Celestia, "Will you still have supper with us tonight as per usual, or are we quarrelling?” is great. Very good contrast between their ideas and yet they are perfectly content with each other.
>The problem with set pieces, I think, would be somewhat ameliorated if the in-between sections were cut by maybe a third.
Yeah, something more could've happened aside from just walking the road or we could've just had less of walking the road. I do think it did something though. Perhaps the author just didn't want us to like that part kek

>>42517599
>but I haven't actually finished the part of the fic we were supposed to read
>>>>
>The adventure in this is quite poor, maybe even very poor
I'd disagree. At the very least we have an unusual cast of ajshy. Almost instantly AJ seemed better here than mother of invention, and locations aside from the road were neat enough. I particularly liked how defeated the malice made the valley explode with life right before their eyes complete with happy animals running around. then of course another road segue, this time covered in snow but we got to another neat enough place, prototype canterlot. And I shouldn't forget the old castle and cloudsdale. While not new places they did get good lore which added to the sense of adventure I think
>The 2012 SOVL.
*sips* Yup. Just like the good ole' days.

>>42517795
No, I'm pretty sure I wrote honey. I even looked up horse buoyancy to make sure they'd swim fine in it.

>>42517676
>I only read about 1/3 of this week's reading so far, but I've been enjoying it plenty.
Nice
>The first few chapters were the best
I also really liked this part and am unsure why the others didn't
>Princesses
Yup. Not only were they immediately called, but they were very proactive about it as well. (At least in the beginning) Luna immediately barges in grabs some shit and starts running tests before anyone even comprehends that the princesses are there lol. I definitely want to see more of them as well
>The way the road "disappears" was written unnecessarily confusingly,
I agree with this, for some reason this valley in particular and they're approach to the center didn't make a lot of sense when I was reading it. It almost seems like every time they look somewhere it was a different view. Particularly around climbing the small cliff when they're close to the building.

>>42517681
>but it adds to the impression of a world where tribes are more culturally significant than usual.
good way of putting it, and I like this aspect a lot. Fluttershy singing an old pegasus warrior song to AJ was kino
>Oh, and something else that's interesting is how Pinkie was "considered" by the Elements to be a pegasus, and Fluttershy and earth pony, which actually aligns with Lauren Faust's original concepts.
Yeah that was cool and I had thought of that earlier too when we got the lore dump and also because of the shapes of the elements. Very good stuff
>Is this not the point?
Yeah I'm on your side with all of that. But I also think a big part of Twilight's bitterness is at Rainbow. It's quite rude that rainbow gets upset at the others for 'not trying or caring' as much as her when they certainly do. Twilight was quite justified ganking Rainbow in her house to tell her off
>To me, it seemed more like they (i.e. Celestia) were making excuses to get Twilight to go away. Afterwards, Luna states that Twilight won't be satisfied and will eventually come back
Yeah there is definitely something more going on there that we don't know yet. It certainly might have to do with the fact that the history ponies are taught isn't exactly true
>Ideally, we get a Fluttershy who develops conflicting feelings for both AJ and Rainbow while on the road
Yup, that's what I'm hoping for
>and a Rainbow who realises her own feelings for Fluttershy in her absence (maybe even encouraged by Flutters' parents)
That would be amazing lol, a solo or group visit to Fluttershy's parents where the parents reveal that they've thought flutterdash was a thing for the past 15 years kek, "So Rainbow, when's the marriage?" kek, then Shy gets back and she started saying "Sure as sugar." enough to arouse suspicion

>>42517838
I must have my "alicorns submerging" fanfics mixed up then...

>>42513822
i fully intend to put a pony inspired race in my fantasy shit

>>42513822
I've inserted small references into my professional work.

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>>42517599
>but desu it's the only thing the fic has going for it for the first 8.5 chapters
I mean, I really don't think there was anything wrong past chapter 2 other than the pace being too slow in parts. I disagree with Twiflag on the prologue, but maybe my problem with it (and other early fics like it) is that it spends too much time on exposition, when in 2010 + 15, it's all second-nature to us and usually gets skipped in modern fics.
>Huh? Citation needed?
I'm actually conflicted between wanting the Princesses to genuinely be nefarious and wanting them to merely be self-interested obstacles, but either way, it's good that they're subtly antagonistic. It may be a prevalent trope in (bad) older fics, but we haven't been getting enough of it in the club.
>but I haven't actually finished the part of the fic we were supposed to read
Twiflag's already said it, but
>>>
Malevolent spirits aside, this is literally reading the first quarter of a drama fic (and this fic is missing a [Drama] tag) and then getting frustrated that nopony has reconciled yet.
>When she's not lashing out at everypony around her, at least.
She just hasn't realised how important Fluttershy is to her and projects her expectations of herself onto her friends, then gets upset when they don't live up to them exactly. It's all classic RD.
>OTEM
First of all, I have read neither Dangerous Business nor Easthorse ^:). I'd believe that Lost and Found references them extensively, and the main similarity with Off the Edge I saw was the Appleshy stuff compared to OTEM's Flutterdash. In terms of prose, what stood out to me the most about Off the Edge was the high-quality diction, and the grammar really isn't that bad. Chapter 1 of OTEM isn't nearly as bad about misusing words as most of Lost and Found ("rapport" of hooves instead of presumably "rapping" or similar). However, I thought Lost and Found has a more interesting and complex narrative structure than simply "let's get home, already". Most of the "adventure" there is oceans, ice caves, and dragons, which are nice, but I wouldn't say that they're superior to Lost and Found, or even that LaF's adventure is poor at all. As settings, I even prefer "ruins with mysterious tablets", "dead valley with haunted mansion", and "desolate, windigo-infested mountains". I'd say LaF's Appleshy scenes are prettier and more interesting than OTEM's Flutterdash, since Appleshy interact with the setting more than simply passing through it, and Flutterdash is, in many places, just SoL but in X setting.
>>42517676
>best princess's right-to-the-point efficiency was a lot of fun
Luna's got a great scene later. She's nuanced and not-entirely-helpful and still better than Celestia.
>I stopped right after AJ and FS were railroaded onto the wasteland path
You should continue because they ARE being manipulated by evil magic and their eventual resolution is pony kino.

>>42517941
Oops, forgot flag.
>>42517702
>Fluttershy being maybe the only pony who could've exorcised them is kino
We have to appreciate these rare kino Fluttershy moments.
>it has all just happened by being told to us unfortunately
Yeah, some trouble the fic has is condensing the *interesting* bits of the journey and expounding upon the tedious parts, which is probably deliberate but uninteresting all the same.
>every time she says a single line her countryisms more than double the amount of words she would've said otherwise
Kek, but I agree. At first, it could easily have been AJ herself overcompensating by trying too hard to be nice, but once she and Fluttershy reconcile (and they're clearly still not totally open or comfortable), she should relax at least a little.
>>42517803
>I don't know if I'd go as far as to call them sinister kek
You may be right, but there's gotta be *something* not-quite-right to keep things interesting and give them a reason for being so cagey. Maybe the ancient alicorns instigated the tribal conflict in the first place, swooping in to take power and enforce peace but also attracting the windigos?
>Very good contrast between their ideas and yet they are perfectly content with each other.
You put it perfectly.
>Perhaps the author just didn't want us to like that part kek
The author deliberately causing pain to his audience? It's more likely than you think.
>made the valley explode with life right before their eyes complete with happy animals running around
Yeah, it was an extremely "pony" resolution to the whole thing. Affirming friendship->literal flourishing life and happiness.
>>42517840
>Yeah I'm on your side with all of that.
Reading comprehension issue on my part, kek. But yeah, if anypony's in the wrong, it's Rainbow, and I really want to see how she develops.
>"So Rainbow, when's the marriage?"
Would easily earn a like + favourite.

>>42517568
>I like all of the character interactions as well*
Coming back after a bit and thinking back on what I did read, I was too harsh on it. I very nearly quit after all the drama but before the resolution, so of course I'd have a worse opinion of it. Assuming that this will not continue and ponies will be ponies in the story, this isn't really too valid of a complaint. This isn't certain yet, because Twilight's part of the story has a chance of ruining things, depending on how the Princesses and their relationship with Twi is handled. Their early scenes felt a little concerning.
Anyway, I don't have much time today so I should keep things brief, but I needed to explain it. Also being sick didn't help. It may be obvious, but reading when sick does reflect negatively on my opinion of the fic in some way.
>They aren't allowed to cast big spells?
But they can move the Sun and Moon. Yeah, it's a little too convenient of an excuse, but the fic didn't (yet) seem nearly as forcibly orchestrated as some of the stuff we've read lately, so I'm not holding it against the story. Yet.
>I do like the princesses in this fic
I like this Luna. I am not sure I like this Celestia based on what we've seen of her, and additionally if she's to have a conflict with the Protagonist Character Twilight then maybe she'll be forced to act in a way I'll hate. Unless the author manages to pull it off very well, which he hopefully will do.
>Rainbow herself drags that part down.
Yeah, agree.
>disappointed when we, as per fucking usual, went down the RainbowxShy
If this fic actually does the AJxShy paring after doing the FlutterDash setup, I will IMMEDIATELY apologize in the thread and give it its due respect. But I really doubt that it will, since we're in 2012 for the next few weeks, and of course you have to do the "classic" ship in your story.

>>42517589
>nobody has the foggiest idea why it was so obligatory
Because you're writing a PONYfic, duh! And you want to include all the fun parts of the world you're writing about. No, it's your responsibility!! Your Mission!!!! (I mean, yeah, it looks a little silly, but this is such a genuine reflection of the old days that I refuse to dock points for it).
>Really? I thought it was very much 'pony'.
I do want to take back some of what I said (blaming a poor posting time and not finishing the fic), but not all is well with the story. I think if the fic wanted to keep the "show-level" sticker like the opening section implied, then Rainbow was going too far. Furthermore, FS&AJ's Malice section drags on (and again, I ended up writing right after finishing it, which did not help). And lastly, the thing with Twilight and the Princesses reads like a lot of bad stories, so while it's not fair to judge this fic for it yet, it is something I noted as potential starting point of the fic going to shit.

Are there any long form twilestia fics that focus on them post s9 finale?

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https://www.fimfiction.net/story/577317/echoverse-the-pit-incident

i would like to throw this story in the mix of things

>>42517589
>Why the hell do the Princesses need to be so sacred all the time?
Bad opinion, ha! But really, it's probably subjective. I just consider the Princesses as a benevolent force for good such a fundamental part of the setting that by messing with it you're either expressing your desire to subvert the world, showing that you don't know what you're doing, or (very rarely) trying to tell an interesting story. This is doubly, triply, quadruply true for old fics. In old fanon (and old canon, too), Celestia and by extension Luna were divine creatures and a Big Deal. They were revered by the fandom, too. The show proceeded to later undermine their significance, wisdom, and power with every new season opener/finale, and eventually we've reached the point we're at now.
So, in short, I'm not saying that being subversive about Princesses portrayal is guaranteed to be a bad thing (and I like many stories that do this!), but it's one of the historically most common red flags, and also something that was later reinforced by the official content heralding the end of Golden Age canon/fanon and the onset of the gradual rot that would eventually make the series worse. So I have every reason to furrow my brows and waggle a finger at the screen when a fic starts to do this.
That said, this fic did NOT commit any cardinal sins regarding the Princesses yet, and I hope that it continues on that path. But I am worried.
>Because to me,
I'd agree and say that I went too far with that claim.

>>42517676
>that they seem to be a lot more central to the story
This might be a monkey paw's wish-type situation, if Twilight's disillusionment with Celestia will be written less than great. Luna was fun here, I agree.
>AJ and FS were railroaded onto the wasteland path
As I mentioned, I think that's the worst part of the fic. It does get better after that, but I just didn't enjoy it much, yes.

>>42517681
>which actually aligns with Lauren Faust's original concepts
This was much more common in old fics, too. People very rarely mention Surprise (the pegasus that directly inspired Pinkie Pie) anymore, but jokes about her were common back then.
>Is this not the point?
Maybe it is, but it makes it easy to focus on that when discussing this portion. Plus the other things I said a post ago.
>I don't think this Celestia is OOC
We will see.
>the best AJ M6 ship
Maybe, but that's not a high bar to clear. And while I'd like what you're suggesting regarding AJxShy because that's a very interesting and pretty novel direction the story could easily take, I would not go into week 2 expecting it to happy. We're in 2012.

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>>42517589
>And nobody has the foggiest idea why it was so obligatory.
I don't know why this is a mystery. For one, it's just wrong, there's tons of stories that don't respect canon much at all, from DoWaS that completely redefines how the EoH work to StN which rebuilds Ponyville into the author's twisted vision.

In general, those kinds of references are in there because they're fandom touchstones. "You remember that episode you liked? I liked it too, let's like it some more"
Furthemore, while it doesn't apply to this fic, they are also important to establish the setting when dealing with S3. Not just Twilycorn, S3 is quite densely packed with lore- and setting-impacting episodes. It's a good idea to anchor the fic to an episode like ACW to establish what the setting is like, one obvious example is that Discord can never be expected to save FS here.

>Seeing a slightly more sinister side of Celestia and Luna is quite satisfying, especially given all the full-throated service the fandom usually lavishes them with
Rariflag did mention this, but I'll repeat that it's actually just not true. I'll go further and say that it's the default state of fanfics to give both princesses a checkered past building Equestria's utopia, and it would actually be rather nice to have them unambiguously the good mares. I'm not expecting it, the fic seems to be laying an untimely death of their third sister at their hooves. But it would be nice.

>>42518038
Behemoth.

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>>42518079
>We're in 2012.
Cloudy Skies did a lot of strange Rainbow ships in Within and Without, and besides, Appledash is more of a classic ship than Flutterdash.
But, more importantly, if Within and Without is to be taken as a cue for what to expect, any ending ships in this fic will be foreshadowed (not a surprise), but can end up being unrequited.

>>42518401
Are there any long form fics about one guy pushing a meme so hard it ceases to be funny, but the REAL spoiler is that it was never all that funny to begin with?

>>42518632
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/500819/

>>42518632
I'm not trying to be funny, it's factually a post season 9 Twilestia fic.

>>42518632
What About Discord and the fanfics based on that

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Any crackship Fics where Sweetie Belle is Princess Luna's adopted daughter?
>why
Yes

>>42518853
Rariluna is hardly a crackship

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>>42518853
>why
How?

I love crazy schizo Luna

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>>42519100
Canon's got you covered there, anon.

>>42519100
>>42518972
>Luna kidnaps and stockholms Sweetie Belle

Fics that will perfect my soul?

>>42519103
I meant more like that fic Lunacy or the one where the Tantabus wins.

>>42518853
Adoption anon?

>>42518972
NMM using Sweetie Belle as a hostage to keep Rarity loyal to her ?

>>42519153
>the one where the Tantabus wins.
What's the name of that one ?

>>42519202
I see you, Equestria At War player.

>>42519204
Does he mean the one where the Tantabus turns itself into a fetus and impregnates itself inside Luna to prevent her from becoming evil again?

>>42519204
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/474003/forever
The formatting if fucking annoying but I can appreciate it as an artsy piece.

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>>42518901
OK nigger
>>42518972
Luna is my WIFE, and I adopt Sweetie Belle (Best Filly) as our daughter
We go out on family adventures, or relax with each other as company.
>>42519126
No, Sweetie Belle is willingly adopted, wholesome family dynamic
>>42519202
Fuck off, Rarity is also cute and will let us have her sister as our daughter.
>>42519178
Yes

>>42519247
Rarity has never wanted to take responsibility for her bastard.

>>42519258
What do you expect? She got pregnant at 14.

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>>42519262
It wasn't really her fault.

If it's not gay shit it's pedo incest round these parts

>>42519304
Sorry.

>>42519310
The hell you are

>>42519315
Oh I'm apologizing on his behalf, because he never will.

>>42513163
>ITASTOAARAGMRIADWBUTSMLPATGFITSFOFO:EKAPHAAS99S gains the schizo anon who'll constantly shill it for years to come
Thanks, >>42513855

>>42518041
>it's gonna be a cute bat pony mango fic
Oh...

>>42519205
I didnt even know EAW used this scheme for the NMM path.

>>42518853
Wouldn't scootaloo make more sense

>>42519510
I like Sweetie Belle/Thrackerzod better anon.
Scootalo is too much of a daredevil

It makes sense Celestia has an easy time manipulating all information in Equestria when all their news still rely on newspapers.

>>42519658
Celestia doesn't do shit, she can barely walk out of the toilet without tripping on a roll of paper. All she can do is tea party, sit like a statue in court, and play with her friends. Prince Blueblood has to bust his ass everyday to keep Equestria running all while keeping Celestia from drooling on her bib.

>>42519676
Hot.

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Yeah, I'm definitely starting my part of the anthology after Mare Fair.

Fuck it, even if I'm late I can just submit it after the fact. It's an anthology, not a coherent story like last year's collaboration. Besides, that'll get it more time on the front page.

Are there any fics where celestia betrays her little ponies and helps foreign countries conquer equestria?

>>42520189
Some zebradom fics probably.

>>42520189
No, because she wouldn't do that.

>>42520166
This must have NSFW alts, right?

>>42520202
https://twibooru.org/3284851
https://twibooru.org/3284883
https://twibooru.org/3284887
https://twibooru.org/3284890

>>42520221
>teats
Based.

>>42520200
>x fic doesn't exist because it would be wildly OOC for the character to act that way
If only it were that simple...

>>42518401
>>42518721
Link? I can’t find it

>>42520565
Have you tried searching for Behemoth on Fimfiction dot net?

>>42520221
>teats in the wrong place
I didn't expect anything else from you.

>>42520576
yeah

Recommend me a

>>42520831
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sh5_p9gpws
I gotchu senpai.

>>42520671
It's there.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/749/ah-aint-got-no-ack-cent

This fic was very good, I added it to my favorites bookshelf. It felt as if it could have easily been an actual episode. We should read it for the bookclub sometime.

>>42521089
And can you link it? There are about 3 stories with behemoth in the title and I can’t tell if any of them are the fic

>>42521177
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/500819/

>>42521177
It's probably the third one. You can look at the publish dates and use context clues. A post S9 fic would not be one published while the show was still underway.

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>>42521205
While looking for fics posted after S9 ended sounds like a good bit of advice, I'd go further to recommend looking for fics tagged Twilight Sparkle and Celestia, or fics in the related groups to find such Twilestia fics.

>>42521205
>>42521485
I read the first few “chapters”, not really a fan of its structure. Also it’s not in the twilestia group so I’m not sure if there is any focus on that. I’m a newfag, am I being trolled?

>fic is well written
>vibe with the premise
>characters act so infuriatingly stupid i end up hating it

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>>42521605
I bet if you search for that word on desuarchive, you'll be able to figure out what happened.

>>42521605
>Also it’s not in the twilestia group
To be fair, most of thematic groups based on ships or characters like this were created 10 years ago at the very latest and have been sitting all but abandoned for years, maybe with a few zoomers still adding an occasional story to some of them. That's just the modern Fimfiction experience, most places you go are ghosts of the 2010s.

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>>42521735
The Tuna and Twilestia groups are definitely not dead.

>>42521762
I just can't get into those. Those two tall bitches just have too much great aunt energy for me.

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Other than their being tall, yes, I don't at all know what the hell you're talking about, so that sounds like a problem that's just in your head.

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>>42521786
>>42521804

>>42521804
He's saiyng they're smelly, dried-up hags.

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>>42521810
Literally unimaginable.

>>42521605
It's not really the primary focus I'm afraid.

This place is lunafag central

>>42521871
Is there any other longer fics that take place post s9 that does have them as the primary focus?

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>>42521896
And that's a good thing!

>>42521905
I'm sadly not familiar with any off the top of my head but if I run into one I'll let you know.

>>42521804
I mean Celestia is literally an aunt, twice.

>>42521810
This. Celestia's a thousand years old minimum. Bitch's eggs are powdered.

Any fics with the main six talking about wanting to have foals?
>>42522097
If being an alicorn can keep a pony eternally youthful I’d imagine it can also keep a pony eternity fertile.

>>42522263
>being an alicorn can keep a pony eternally youthful
But Celestia clearly looks milfy and mature.

any great fics that have come out within the last three years or so?

>>42522291
This one's good: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/568080/

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>>42522049
Yeah, but that doesn't seem to have a meaningful relationship with the "great aunt" concept.

>>42522272
You are denying the obvious and what is reasonably plausible and what has been considered fanon for ages to make a pedantic nit picking point.

>>42522263
>Any fics with the main six talking about wanting to have foals?
A bunch of Georg's works honestly.

>>42522455
What about them being celibate by choice ? I've never seen a fic that explored their concern about bringing multiple semi-god claimants into the world.

>>42522263
>Any fics with the main six talking about wanting to have foals?
I mean I read one where it turns out all the elements made them sterile via magical radiation and they had to come to terms with that.

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>>42522560
>celibate
>

Celestiabate

>>42522455
That's what we do around here.

>>42522560
>>42522580
Celibacy means no marriage.
Chastity is the one that means no sex.
No, I do not care about popular usage.

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>>42522620
>either one of them

>>42522263
Any fics with the main six not getting dates because like 5/6s of them are single moms, effectively

>>42521605
>am I being trolled
Possibly. Behemoth Anon is well known for trying to get people to read his fic, but it's 500k, so Twilestia might feature eventually. You'd have to be truly desperate for the ship if you're turning to Behemoth for it, though.

>newfag
https://www.fimfiction.net/stories?q=status%3Acomplete+%23romance+%23twilight-sparkle+%23princess-celestia+published%3A%3E2019-10-12&order=relevance
Here's every (completed) potential Twilestia fic posted after the finale. This doesn't mean they're post-finale, though. You'll have to mine through them to see.

total twishipper death

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>>42522724
nah

Do you think pegasi piss in the sky?

>>42523042
What an odd thing to ask.

>>42523042
No they leave the sky to piss

>>42523042
No, i don't think so.

>>42523042
One of the Easthorse books says ancient pegasi pissed and shit while really high in the sky, so yes

>>42522715
Only 500k words? Lightweight.
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/50139/pony-pov-series-season-six-dark-world-shining-armor

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>>42523865
What are you bragging about here?
Be specific.

>>42523042
They piss at the ground but miss

>>42524025
Just putting him down a peg.

>>42523042
There was some fic I read where Dash says that instead of plumbing it's just absorbed by the cloud, and Applejack gets pissed that everyone besides her has it easy.

I think that was like the fourth fic I read that mentioned the "earth ponies have to change diapers with their teeth and their lives fucking suck" meme.

>>42524092
Why don't they just shit in the floor

>>42524095
That's disgusting, this isn't Harry Potter.

>>42524099
I mean even if they just shit in diapers where the fuck would they dispose those diapers?

>>42524103
Griffonstone.

>>42524103
Weren't you paying attention? We just said it's absorbed by the cloud.

>it rains microplastics in Equestria

>>42524136
Why would pegasi pee microplastics

>>42524092
I mean, yeah, being an earth pony must suck

>>42524092
>"earth ponies have to change diapers with their teeth and their lives fucking suck"
Ah yes because ponies never grab stuff with their hooves in the show

>>42524460
off-model haberverse not canon "keep it horsey "mom