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Hoof holding with Twilight Sparkle!

>>43311515
Holy shit. The lore implication is that anyone can learn and use magic with a wand. Does that apply to everyone regardless of species or is it only for some spells? Is like a reverse butterfly wings situation where in the same way a unicorn can fly badly, a pegasus might cast some not so good magic? Or maybe we're going with; if glimmer can just fucking fly with autotelekinesis, and rarity can make the weather, and sparkle can just harvest all the apples in like a fucking second, then fuck it, everyone can use magic anyway.
Though that does lead to some balancing issues in the server. I mean, why wouldn't everyone learn magic, why would it not be compulsory education?

>>43311537
Cute!

>>43311537
Another Rainbow thread? Dashfags stay winning.

>>43311515
it's getting good, and sure enough, Shining is gonna put two and two together at some point, he'll have seen Discord for decades without realizing what he was looking at
since Anon made plans to sends the class to somewhere other than the gardens for the field trip to avoid the crusaders letting him out, we might even end up with Shining heading back to Canterlot, realizing the statue is Discord, and his panic being what slowly causes it to crack

>>43311642
if we had an ongoing green with another mare, we might have anonpony with somepony else, alas
speaking of, who have we seen Anon with so far?
>Anoncolt
>That Anon/Dash green
>That Anon/Pinkie green
>That Anon/Zecora green
>That Anon/Rarity green that's in eternal hiatus
>That Anon/Sunny/Celestia green

>>43311916
There was the green where Anon replaced Applejack which is on hiatus as well.

>>43311515
>"Doesn't he look familiar?"
I'm surprised Anon didn't mention that. Since everything is going completely off the rails now, he might just as well mention that Discord is serving a time-out in the gardens.

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>>43311916
anonstallion is made for anonmare

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>>43312057

>>43311626
Same reason that not every unicorn can do cool shit and celestia ships all the "gifted" ones to her personal kindergarten. Ponies don't have "capability" and "competence" so much as they have a destiny on their butt and a name always coincidentally made to match.

In a world where challenging a magically gifted foal to conjure a rock so heavy that they themselves can't lift it causes them to generate a tessiract on the spot with no further instructions, what is the point in trying to teach levitation to a pony destined to be a rock farmer and suck at magic?

On the other hand, if a pony feels the need to try magic, you better fucking let them because being interested in magic means they are probably, maybe, destined for it. That reasoning applies to basically any skill they might want to try out, not just magic.

If you want a more canon answer, remember that sweetie took like a season of background effort before she could sort-of willingly levitate stuff.

>>43312066
>A biological mare x a biological stallion
Nothing gay about it.

>>43311916
Twilight as a rival.

>>43312523
You mean the crazy Twilight one?

>>43312754
Nah, the one where the Anon is an academic rival from Celestia's School and their intellectual debates with Twilight keep developing into mudpony hoof fights... until they eventually get so heated one of their usual fights evolves into sex in front of everyone at the Grand Galloping Gala.

>>43312775
I miss the one where Anon helps out Twilight pacify a baby Spike.

>"I don't know Anon. Wouldn't it be more appropriate that Strength goes with Honesty, Beauty with Generosity, Hope with Laughter, and yours with Bravery."
>Twilight has joined up at the lecture board.
>She's made her own input on the topic by drawing out equations.
>"Not that I don't think your conclusions don't have merit, I just see it working better this way."
>Points to her tree of data.
"First of all, Loyalty isn't 'mine'. I just feel Bravery and Laughter go wing in wing given how they overcome scary threats."
>"But in your presentation Flash was loyal to his band and refused to leave them behind."
"Then Rockhoof would be Loyalty, he refused to allow his village to be destroyed."
>Twilight hums at that and studies the symbol of Sorcery.
>"What did Star Swirl say?"
"He didn't know what the Elements were going to grow into. It's a strange scenario, Harmony had to be grown, but was still a foundational force in the world."
>Shining Armor looks over to Spike next to him, sleeping with an open mouth.
>Then pokes him awake.
>"I do have a question, the threats. What's going on with these vines that guard it?"
>Grab the board, then flip it up to get to the backside.
"The first time the Elements were used was by Princess Luna and Celestia."
>Pause as you start drawing.
"As far as I know."
>Shrug; then do a terrible job of drawing Discord.
"Spirit of Chaos, Discord, was a threat they had no means of stopping. Luna and Celestia searched out the Tree of Harmony and were given the Elements. While successful in defeating him, Discord laid seeds of his own to try and choke out the tree."
>Well that is one ugly drawing of an ugly guy.
"Excuse my anatomy."
>Shining and Twilight look stupefied at the googly eyed monstrosity.
>"He looks like he has a face only a mother could love."
"Nice one, Spike."
>He leans back into his chair, very proud of himself.
>"I do my best."
>"Doesn't he look familiar?"
>Shining taps his chin and stares at the ceiling.
"Now. That is the general story."
>Twilight looks over her notes with glee.
>"I can't wait to cross reference them with other books. Thank you, Anon."
"If you don't mind, I do have a request."
>"Yup?"
>Reach into your saddlebag and pull out a wand.
>Before you can ask, Twilight zips next to you and grabs it.
>"This grain, this rub, this texture. The choice in crystal focus. This is a training wand that Star Swirl himself made!"
>Chuckle nervously as you rub the back of your head.
"I was hiding this one until I could find a teacher. I would like to learn how to use magic like a unicorn."
>Shining Armor looks annoyed.
>"I thought they took all of your stuff?"
"Not all of it, and besides this is a training wand. Nothing special about it outside of who made it."
>You're a cheeky brat.
>Twilight holds it delicately, and looks a little green with envy.
>"Finding so many of his tools must have been incredible. As for teaching you, pegasi to unicorn spell training is not one I'm aware of. I need to research it."

>>43313337
>Seems like Twilight doesn't know how the process would work.
>"Unicorn spell to pegasi spell transfiguration is like a language translation. Though perhaps the wand is the shortcut."
>She's enjoying studying this ancient artifact.
>Shining Armor clears his throat.
>"I actually have an answer for you, Anon."
>Ears perk up at that.
>"If it was as simple as a wand to cast spells, you would see it in our military. All of my guards would carry one."
>Well that stinks.
>"It's how impractical it is."
"Come again."
>"Have you tried using it?"
"It doesn't seem to react. I tried commands, gestures, touching it to other magical sources."
>He nods as you list off what you tried.
>"So you need to use your natural spell focus. What makes a pegasus magic work."
"I've already tried holding it with my wing."
>"Wings. Hold it with your wings. Every feather the better."
>Well that's awkward.
>Put the wand in one wing, then bend it up and over your body to meet the other in the middle.
>Feels like a morning stretch routine.
>Then you shuffle your wings along the shaft.
>This is just like trying to hold a stick behind your back.
>You can do it, but this isn't comfortable.
>There's a flash, and a buzzing hum as the crystal lights up.
"Whoa! There it is!"
>Shining Armor smiles as he takes out a camera.
>Why's he taking that out?
>Share with your family?
>That's nice of him.
>"Yup. As you can see, it's impractical. Imagine trying to cast spells while holding it like that?"
"If you have to wear armor, it would be messy."
>Twilight is squeeing as she watches the wand pulse with energy.
>"This is so exciting."
>She clears her throat and takes a more school teacher tone.
>"Let's start with a simple spell. Pick up the chalk."
>Right, let the magic flow to your wing tips.
>No way you could do this while flying.
>"If I had to guess, picture casting the spell by picking it up with your wing."
>Pick it up with wing.
>The wand glows, then it pops!
>A puff of smoke rebounds from the wand.
>You can't see.
"Guys? What happened?"
>Hair blocks your vision.
>Twilight sounds more worried.
>"Anon! What happened? Your coat, tail, and mane have gone wild!"
>You do hear the snap of a camera.
>"Huh, guess she was right. So Anon, you just got pranked. Courtesy of Princess Luna. You're experiencing the afro hair spell."
>So this is what being a dust bunny feels like.
>Maybe you can be the Afro Pony Samurai.
>Wait a moment, something doesn't line up.
"So Luna knew I had this wand? When this wand belongs to Princess Celestia."
>Twilight gasps and starts to hyperventilate.
>"T-t-that that that was Princess Celestia's teaching wand from Star Swirl!?"
>Shining Armor hesitates, thinking of his next words.
>"Yyyyyesss."
"Spike, message Luna. Tell her Celestia is trying to pass off a prank to her. I can't believe I just got pranked by Princess Celestia."
>As soon as he stops laughing.
>You'll let him, you probably look hilarious.
>Wiggle your wings to see if you now float like a puffball.

>>43313339
>Letter correspondence as follows.

‘Dear Anon, It seems you have fallen victim to my sister’s whimsy. Do not worry, there is a dispel that Twilight should know. Next time you should be more careful when you use other pony’s things. Especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. With love, Princess Celestia.’

‘Tis a lie!
Apologizes. I, Princess Luna, must correct this defamatory misinformation. While true, it was a prank that we made, it was for our intended target. My sister. She was supposed to be as puffed up as her pride. Seems she had carelessly thrown away her wand and forgot about it.
Pleasant dreams, Princess Luna.’

‘I will repay you both. My prank will come, and you will not be ready.
Anon The Dash’

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>>43313346
>She was supposed to be as puffed up as her pride.
I guess that works.

>>43313346
>Anon The Dash
Sonic T. Hedgehog ass name

>>43313346
>‘I will repay you both. My prank will come, and you will not be ready.
>Anon The Dash’

>anon concocts the most devious and malicious pranks that even discord can't fathom
>it starts small
>moving objects to where he knows the princesses never left them
>slightly nudging things to where they are inconvenient and uncomfortable
>until he goes big, using his knowledge of both the royals
>replacing celestia's cake ingredients with tasteless diet ones
>replacing Luna's books on modern language with ones 80 years out of date so she speaks like one out of the roaring 20's instead

>>43313339
Why not curl the wings towards the front or belly? Why not create a spell focus designed for hooves/wings? Is the implication that spell foci need to be a cilinder of some sort? Are there size constraints? Surely there were many unicorn/pegasi/earth autists who did that sort of reaearch. Like shoes with flexible leylines that result in a horn like confluence that doesnt really need to be on the head, could be on the back or even the ass for earth powered fartspells. Jokes aside, a similar thing could be done for pegasi unless spell foci have a number of restrictions due to the nature of magic or concentration. I imagine that for spellcasting staying still would not be desirable for pegasi or earth ponies in a military setting when their tribe advantages are far more powerful or convenient for them. Unless you had like pony spell artillery. Outside of that, there would still be many applications for magic in the other tribes. Though given that friendship is a thing, I imagine most would just focus on their strengths. Hmmm... Anyway lore implications.

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>>43313339
>>43313635
I wonder if something like wing armor/bracers could work as a focus for magic? Or is there some explanation like "the biological structure of a unicorn's horn funnels magic out of their body in the form of a spell"? Again, the lore implications would be interesting.

>>43313644
That would certainly make more sense than wing blades.

>>43313429
>Anon pranks the princesses
>this causes enough chaos for Discord to be released

Didn't get to post about it last thread, but now seems like a good time.

>who can use an element?
>Can dash still use loyalty?
Depends. How much is canon?

>end of the show
Student 6 exist. Sandbar isn't the element of magic. As the leader, he should be the element of something magical, but he isn't. He's also not much of a leader, so much as he's a pony and therefore has a temporary advantage in terms of understanding the society around them.

Gallus has a penchant for sarcasm, dryness. He was intended to somehow inherit magic, but he can't do magic. He was intended to be "Clever" and a book nerd, but that doesn't really come out in the show like at all. Ocellus is a much bigger book nerd. According to some of debuc's notes, gallus was intended to be dishonest, which isn't generally true. It's not like he goes around telling lies all the time, but he DID lie to keep people from going home in the student6 heathswarming episode. Also, in uprooted, when the student 6 were each trying to create something to honor the memory of the tree of harmony, gallus chose to make a museum with a ticket booth and filled the museum with fake stories he made up.

If we link his intended negative trait to his general sarcasm and detached irony, then we can say that his lack of emotional maturity and pretending to be disinterested in things is also an expression of his dishonesty. This dishonesty was also used intentionally to create a false history of the tree which people could more easily beleive in and to force his friends to stay together over winter break. In other words, he attempts to directly control group dynamics by forming false narratives. Twilight controlled group dynamics naturally by just being extremely driven, good, and direct in a way which people willingly followed. Starswirl was sufficiently powerful, competent, belittling, and dismissive such that choosing to oppose him or even inconvenience him would basically mean siding against the greater good. In this way, despite lacking literal magic and the power associated with it, gallus grips at the power which normally results from such overwhelming force.

That makes enough sense for me, but he still isn't the element of magic or sorcery of friendship or leadership, meaning that the element again transformed, which is the important bit.

The intended pairings were (according to the notes)
magic > gallus
generous > ocellus
loyal > smolder
kind > sandbar
laugh > silverstream
honest > yona

You'll notice that these are basically all nonsense if interpreted directly. In the notes, the explanation for smolder is that she "has rainbow dash's loyalty" which no -the fuck- she does not. Much more promising, her listed flaw is overconfidence, which she and rainbow ABSOLUTELY share in common.

magic > gallus (dishonest)
generous > ocellus (gullibility)
loyal > smolder (overconfidence)
kind > sandbar (conflict avoidant)
laugh > silverstream (not a realist)
honest > yona (stubbornness)

AJ's stubborness and yona's stubbornness come from the same source, which is unjustified pride. If I start thinking about yona's actual scenes this is less powerful of a connection than you might assume, but it still makes sense. Yona's positive trait was meant to be "tenacity", which makes even less sense for her. She gives up quite a bit. If I look at "school daze pt 1", after her introduction she trips on her hair I think 5 times before her second spoken lines. That degree of repetition is either the authors attempting extremely hard to make a point, or they are incompetently making a point on accident. Either way, she's only "tenacious" in that she keeps surviving her own clumsiness. If we attach this to her stubbornness, which comes from pride, we can say that yak pride in spite of how much they suck is a defensive mechanism. They are overcompensating in order to make up for how shit they are as a people. It would certainly be a very normal source of outright nation-wide bigotry. So, "tenacity" here doesn't refer to their ability to execute their will through adversity, but instead their survival of their constant brushes with suffering as a result of their own failures. This is the same kind of pride that caused AJ to literally run away from home instead of admitting her failures at a rodeo, just on a nation-scale.

I can't really mention the pillars much in the context of this thread, but rockhoof's story doesn't really involve much character and instead involves really big muscles. He obviously has those in common with AJ and a yak. If I do bother with his personality, he had enough guts and was dumb enough to try to dig a trench he could not possibly dig on his own, and was rewarded for his efforts with magic strength. So, what he has in common with yona is the will to try while ignoring his own incapability.

So, now we have a pattern.
Pillar: Idealized personal trait based on effect, like a story told about the heros of the past specifically meant to inspire people
M6: personal value and obsession which they aim for but don't perfectly stand for. The element named is a reflection of their internal world, and is understood by knowing them on a personal level deeper than you can understand people in real life due to them being a cartoon character who's whole life has been displayed to you.
Student6: a reflection of the shortcommings of their race, which reframes that shortcoming as a reflection of the shortcommings of our main characters

Pillar: strength, an irl output which is easily seen
Element: honesty, a personal virtue she ideally aims for but does not perfectly embody
student: unnamed, but a willful reflection of the sociological effects of a whole country engaging in the philosophy of denial AJ implies

Pillar: ideal
Element: person, complete with all their excuses and viewed through their own biased lens
Student: we live in a society and this shit actually works out like this

>>43313851
>>43313853
Impressively well thought out. I didn’t watch the student episodes so I never got to see how bad it got. Harmony rewards bad behavior it seems.
Not sure how I should implement that in the story. Does not jell well with early series.

>>43313853
Taking this pattern, pinkie's ghostie-giggling is a form of outright denial which is similar in scale to the escapism which the hippogriphs engaged in en-mass, while hope is the society-fueling and necessary ideal which, when willingly supported, eventually leads to such arrogant and cowardly behavior. It's the element of "pretend-noting-is-wrong."

Sandbar just kind of acts like fluttershy, but less antisocial. Main difference is that he doesn't have those moments where he gets indignant and lays down the law like fluttershy does. I don't feel this needs much explanation.

Dragons are obviously a whole society of self-laothing meatheads who act confident.

Ocellus is the hardest to justify and the notes of debuc also fail to justify the idea sufficiently.

However, I have very strong opinions on this matter, opinions which take many many posts to justify.

https://desuarchive.org/mlp/thread/36509381/#q36516472
These opinions.

However, we aren't actually trying to figure out what element each of the students represents, but HOW the students have inherited elements from their predecessor. So, regardless of what word you would give ocellus, temperance or restraint or shyness or gullibility, what does she have that links her to generosity and beauty? Well, rarity is obsessed with changing things, with putting her mark on the world. While often this means self-expression in art, she also often simply has no idea what she is doing, loses the plot, and makes some really dumb and/or impractical shit. Changelings are, culturally, blank. They don't know anything and their primary defense mechanism is to pretend to be something they are not. In "fake it till you make it", while fluttershy falls victem to this much more than rarity, but rarity shows her how to do it and says she does it all the time to sell shit to people who don't need it. It is the same thing she does to "sell" her tail to steve magnet in the series premier. Beauty is shallow, if turned into an ideal and chased.

So, can RD use an element?

>>43313883
Originally I just outright misremembered and believed that there was a scene where the elements of harmony got channeled through 6 separate armies at the end of the show. That simply does not happen, meaning that it is NOT implied that every character is aligned with one of the 6 philosophical building blocks of the show. Instead, I have to think about the students for a good few hours and post the above posts.

>the last problem is canon
It is still possible, due to the montage at the end of "the last problem" where basically every background character gets associated with 1 of the 6 elements, that I could argue that every single character can use one of the elements, but that said element would likely twist into some value which fits that specific character. In this case, sure, RD can use an element. It wouldn't be loyalty, because RD isn't RD anymore, but it would probably still be the loyalty-type element. The argument for this is weak.

>seasons 9 and 8 are canon
While the student 6 are story-relevant representatives of different species who themselves are reflections of the flaws found in the current element wielders, and that is the narrative reason for the transfer of the elements to this new generation of holders, there is no in-universe reason why the elements have to be given to species-representatives. Narrative justification is strong enough to let batman beat superman and in general let "whoever the author wants to win" win, but it doesn't limit the events in alternate universes and stories or prevent other narrative justifications from being used.

So, first off, sure, if you want. And if the story says she DOES use an element, then the readers would then have the job of taking that fact and figuring out what it would mean in the context of the story as it is written.

Alternatively, RD and her family have, in this story, been a significant presence. Among them, RD has been the primary representative. In the larger story of mlp, the pegasus race is one of three main groups. Rd is, also, worsening in ways which relate directly to the approaches and definitions for loyalty which the main character embodies.

So sure, remembering that the student 6 came out of nowhere to retroactivly embody some of the ideas which the writers wanted to talk about, RD could absolutely have some kind of element status placed on her at a later date.

> pillars are canon
While at this point we don't know that the elements can still mutate, we do know that the m6 and the pillars had different sets of elements, which implies that they have changed at least while being forged. While RD is not RD and cannot use loyalty in the same way that normal RD can use loyalty, it is still probable that one of the elements would just turn into something appropriate when she tried to use it, maybe a different element.

This idea does not have full canon support, or opposition, but remember that people were expecting spike/starlight to get an element.

>>43313924
Spike is the new Rainbow Dash, aka loyalty

>>43313924
Point being that the elements are not so well known that outright making shit up about them is enough to make you wrong.

So, you can say that the elements twist to fit the user, and you wouldn't even need to argue a narrative through-line because the students would not have come into existence and so would not have placed such limitations on the transfer of the elements.

However, as we would have never seen the elements transfer at all after the m6 got them, there would also be no good reason to think it is possible, particularly with how much destiny-symbolism has been used, between the elements matching the cutie marks, twilight's 6-mark butt matching celestia's prophesy in a child's book, and the element just being so fucking unreasonably powerful + the table clearly having future sight and the element's punishments always turning out to be perfect after more than 1000 years pass.

Normally, I would outright say that it is not possable for RD to hold the element other than by, for just a moment, aligning more completely with the self she was in the normal timeline.

However, specifically because this is being stated in this thread while this writer listens, I must also clarify that the conditions which make that argument true and possable to make do not apply to new stories, only to the show and what can be argued to be true based on the show.

There is a difference between "x is true based on the show" and "not-x cannot be true based on the show"

Like, for instance, pinkie is pink. That is true based on the show. That pinkie is not-pink also cannot be true based on the show.

I could say that Sweetie has a crush on scoots. That would not be true based on the show. However, it would not be false based on the show either.

>>43313949
>pillars are not yet canon
Elements have been used by the m6 and the sisters and that's it, far as we know. This means the sisters used 3 elements each, which means that the elements are not only usable by exclusively the chosen heros. There has been no mention of mutation of the elements, but we can see their range by comparing the sisters to the m6.

Best guess is that the elements were distributed:
Celestia: magic, kindness, generosity
Luna: laughter, loyalty, honesty.

Assuming these are right, celestia is magic just because she's the leader and gets along with people better in-person. Kindness, here, mostly refers to the fact she lead a peaceful country for 1000 years and is intended to be archtypically motherly, as does generosity. I could think deeper about it, but luna matters more.

Luna's job is to chase away nightmares which is a laughter-coded activity. While she's not the most honest, I don't recall many lies other than the literal illusions of the shadowbolts and shadow-infused spookie trees. This is fixed if we just say that Nightmare moon is inverted, works against her elements, but then we don't have much to work with for luna herself.

while luna was still herself, her main action was to work tirelessly as a hero while desperately needing the approval and worship of others. This is something she has in common with RD. RD is constantly desperate for attention and praise and also naptime, just like luna, and RD collapses into a crying puddle both times in which her ego cracks due to lack of positive reinforcement and having self doubt.

So, given that the element of loyalty's loyalty is defined by how desperately one needs to earn the approval of everyone around them, to the point where discord can exploit it as a contradictory weakness just by claiming multiple groups need RD at the same time, is our current RD plauged by this specific mental sickness?

NO

So, rd can't use loyalty, because she's found something she can define herself by. Motherhood.

Unless, perhaps, if something were to call into question her claim to the identity provided by motherhood???

>before twilight's kingdom
Far as we know, the elements are old as time artifacts of power in a universe with prophesy. At the end of episode 2, twilght made a leap of faith which could only be justified by willing service to that causality while assuming it favored her and favored a good future.

Under these conditions, it is reasonable to think there is a deterministic will behind the flow of causality in the universe and that it knows what paladins shall be born to enact its will long beforehoof. Only anon could ever use the element of loyalty, only anon and whatever hoof might happen to pick it up and use it, at which point we will retroactively know that this second hoof was ALWAYS destined to also wield the element. Until then, however, it is correct to say that nobody else can use it, because that is the limitation of communication and observation..

>>43313992
I don’t think Anon has displayed flaws like RD and Luna have where his ego shatters when he doesn’t get the attention he wants. If anything he wishes he had less attention in him. Honestly he reminds me of Pinkie, with plans and studying on individuals. She has a cave dedicated to it.

>>43313867
>doesn't jell with early
man you already included cadence and, by mentioning strength, the pillars.

Look, by having twilight argue with anon you introduce, in your story, the idea that what anon is expressing is an opinion of a mere character, who is not perfect, and is not a thing which you are expressing while using anon as a mouth piece. If you do not like an idea and do not want it to be in your story, what you need to do is not put that idea in your story or else put it in your story in a context which immediately indicates that it is not what you are going for and is not true. The only time you are really forced to introduce an idea is to clarify that you DON'T mean something which the audience may assume.

Like, if you introduce pinkie pie, but you say she's red, you would have to really clarify that you know you said red and you meant red and it wasn't a mistake, perhapse by having the character they ar5e talking to point out how odd it is that their name does not match their color, at which point red pinkie pie would probably mention how extremely often people say that, hopefully in a very rapid and chatty pinkie-pie way.

Anyway, main thing is that you absolutely do not have to account for my personal headcanon as to why and how the student 6 got to have some unknown fragment of element-power, no matter how well I argue it.

It's not in your story until you put it in your story.

>>43313997
Anon knows, 100% knows, that he is a failed pale imitation of his mother and it broke him down hard enough that his mom noticed even while he refused to cry as a baby.

We're also clearly using the canon after the pillars come to be, so we don't have to justify ourselves using only the similarities between luna and RD and have much more room to work with.

In a way it really is a blessing that Zephyr is in Anons life. That way no matter how bad his self loathing gets he will at least always know that he is never the worst.

>>43314003
Also, while the reasoning behind it is different, pinkie has a similar need for the positivity of others as RD and Luna, anyway. So saying anon is more like pinkie in practical terms doesn't really account for his apparent mental-health which is far better than the average element user, because element users are basket cases, every one of them.

>>43314002
Yup, you’re right. I am playing around with expectations that Anon is fully aware of later seasons of the show. If they don’t become a factor does that mean he’s worrying over nothing? I am writing with the idea that Anon loathes what happened later on. Then I have to make it more complicated by having Celestia get access to that knowledge.

>>43314036
You also get to decide what happened in the later seasons of the show, or simply not clarify.

One offhanded mention that he hated "the diamond dog arc in season 9 and the space arc in season 10" and you're free. You never have to clarify shit.

The limitation here is interest. Are you, yes you, interested in making a commentary of how bad the bad seasons were by showing either how much worse those events could have gone, or how much better, or even just how different while still feeling somehow the same?

Probably, you started writing with the specific intention of clarifying these kinds of ideas, which would mean you eventually have to touch on those events, not because you have to, but because that's what has driven you and those are the questions you've been trying to answer.

I can't know. These are not questions with answers, from an outside perspective. I can only provide inspiration, which is also what used tea leaves provide to hucksters.

Up.

>>43313346
>"All right, Anon. I think I've found the right spell. Hold still."
"The anticipation is driving me giddy."
>You say flatly, Maud style.
>After 15 minutes, Twilight and Spike finally found the recovery spell.
>Lavender light flows over you, mane, tail, and coat return to normalcy.
"Thank you."
>"An amazing spell. It survived this long until you used it is absolutely incredible."
"Would be nice to know how she did it."
>Twilight pats a few stray hairs on your mane back down.
>"Probably layers of extensions."
>You can breathe again, who knew it would also affect nose hairs.
>Look up to Twilight as she sits back down and breathes a sigh of relief.
"I would still like to learn magic."
>"Oh?"
>Twilight studies you, curious that she isn't jumping on it right away.
>You can hear Spike and Shining Armor in the kitchen working.
>"It won't be easy. You have to hold it awkwardly, and I've seen your stamina. While good, you're still young."
"Then make lessons around my limitations. I want to know more."
>She 'hums' as she thinks.
>"I've never really taught anypony before."
>Right, early series Twilight might not be that confident.
"Well maybe you could help me understand it. I've tried reading the books here and it doesn't make much sense to me."
>"Not much different from teaching you. Ok, if you have a question I'll answer it as best as I can."
>Long game this; the more comfortable with it she is, the more she can teach you.
>A tap at the window makes you jerk up and look outside.
>A songbird looks inside, at you, and taps at the window again.
>"A bird?"
"That's Constance."
>Trot up to the window and open it for her.
>Chirping starts quickly.
>'Home. Please. Your father. Sad. Help.'
>With a sigh, you nod yes.
"I was worried about that. Twilight, thanks for letting me hang out with you."
>Twilight seems a little gobsmacked.
>"You can talk to animals too!?"
"Hmm? Oh right. My aunt Fluttershy taught me. I'm nowhere as good as her. I think it might run in the family. Great Grandpa was a bird talker too."
>Gather your stuff into your saddlebag.
"I'll see you around."
>"Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Anon. I had a great time!"
>She smiles sweetly and follows you to the door.
>"Just, consider, not pranking the princesses."
"Twilight."
>Turn around at the door entrance.
"She has a picture of Afro me. Peace was never an option."
>"Oh boy."
>Stretch out your wings and fly off.
>Following close behind Constance.
>Man, what is the state of Zephyr that a song bird called you?
>Assume the worst.
>After a few minutes you see Fluttershy's home.
>With her in the back by her shed.
>Land gently and call out to her.
"Hey auntie."
>Her ear had turned to you before you even landed.
>Fluttershy closes her shed, and sighs.
>She turns back to you as you walk up to her and gives you a hug.
"Where's dad?"
>"Having a tantrum in my room."
"I was afraid of that."
>Glance around and see that some of the animals that prefer to sleep inside are outside.

>>43314795
Oh, Zephyr. I pray that you lock in soon. I'm surprised Anon hasn't tried to get him in gear sooner. Maybe it was stated earlier and I forgot.
Wasn't Zephyr's issue a lack of self-esteem that he cloaked in narcissism? His lesson being that failing doesn't mean he's a failure? I can't quite remember the episode and I haven't watched his second(?) appearance.

>>43314795
Yeah that's Zephyr alright. Making it as hard as possible to like him.

>>43314818
>Wasn't Zephyr's issue a lack of self-esteem that he cloaked in narcissism?
That, and him also constantly fucking everything up whilst pretending to be a genius. His breakdown in the episode was ultimately triggered when everyone flat out told him what kind of twat he truly was. And ignore the second episode. It basically undermines the end of his first appearance since they reverted him back to the original status quo.

>>43314838
He also molests Dash who was really not into it.