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No. 35036
>>35035
When you asked what I was up too, I had been juggling a whole bunch of different things at once, and it caught me by surprise, so I felt both annoyed and pressured. Then I felt guilty because I'm quite conscious of how little pony I've been writing over the last year. There wasn't any drive for me to pick up The Equestrian Renaissance again. I was lying in bed trying to think of a story to tell. So I thought about recent episodes. At the end of One Bad Apple, they hit you with this surprise back story for this new character, and it's like the writers gave the viewers a gift. "Hey, here's a writing prompt, now go tell this story."
I don't think there's an adult on this earth who didn't spend at least some time as a child alternatively both being bullied and being a bully, whether it's physical abuse or something as simple as name-calling. So it's something everybody should be able to connect with. Fear and hate are as universal as love and sex. The story also had the advantage of being completely separated from the show's canon, fanon, my previous stories, and so on. There wasn't any weight holding it down. It could have been a human story. If people hadn't seen the episode they'd never know it was pony fanfic at all, it was just a story. One of the things I like in fiction is when the villain comes to the conscious decision that they're going to be the story's villain. Not a sympathetic, misunderstood figure, or some guy who thinks he's doing right and is just way out of touch. But a proper dastardly, malevolent villain. Iago, or Don John, or the man who corrupts Hadleyburg. Once I had the final lines I knew I had to write the story first thing in the morning.
Unfortunately season 3 seems pretty short of material to work with. I've thought about writing an epistolary story from the perspective of Cloudchaser, or whatever the name is, from that Dash episode. Her life long dream is to join the Wonderbolts. Is excited about going to the recruitment camp. Then realizes she's completely outclassed by Dash and Dust. She's distraught. Works through it anyway. Bonds with the steroid pony. Just ends up doing the best she can and has fun in the process. Optimistic ending. Just haven't found the motivation to start on that yet.
In S1E1, it sets up the idea that the ponies of ancient times never cared for Luna or her night. That took on a new dimension with the Sleepless in Ponyville episode, when her Morpheus-like nature was revealed. She haunts people's dreams, subconsciousness, deepest secrets, so if the ponies didn't like her, she'd really know about it. So what if her encounter with Pip results in somebody actually liking her for the first time, on a subconscious level. Or loving her. What if they could spend an entire lifetime together, a lifetime of adventure and swashbuckling and romance and danger, all in a single night's dream, with both Pip and Luna being conscious players both. I've ended up drawing that story instead of writing it. Something about it just seems more suited for illustrations than text.
Except for that, I haven't got a lot to work with.
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