The Document of PGS: Impasse/Better Days · 3:41am Mar 24th, 2014
Two for one special, if only because I didn't think that the Interlude was worth its own blog.
I had a rough draft of Impasse finished about a month and a half ago. Revising it was a slow process due to more pressing concerns IRL, and also, because several scenes in the rough draft weren't really up to snuff (what does that even mean, "up to snuff?" Can you get high from huffing fanfics?). As the scene evolved, characters and motivations changed, new scenes were added and old ones subtracted, and the final chapter was, all told, much, much longer than I'd originally planned. I keep telling myself that'll stop happening, and I keep proving myself a liar each time.
Anyway, let me think. What's worth talking about here? Let's start with Luna. After demolishing the castle in the Everfree Forest two chapters ago, Miffy suggested that I have Luna take notice, seeing as it happened on her watch, and all that. The idea that nobody in Canterlot ever catches on to the human presence in Equestria bothered me from the get-go, so this seemed like a good way to address that particular plothole.
I wasn't planning to introduce Luna - or Celestia - until several chapters from now, so adding Luna also necessitated expanding her role and bringing her into the story earlier. This also necessitated that I give her things to do, since it seemed stupid to have Luna make a big deal over the castle demolishing, discovering the presence of humans in Equestria, and learning that there's a phantasmal something-or-other hanging out in Equestria when there really shouldn't be anything of the sort... and then just going "ho-hum; what's for dinner?" So you'll be seeing a lot more of Luna than originally planned.
For the purposes of the story, Celestia's confidence is shaken from the events of Canterlot Wedding. She blames herself for failing to recognize that the real threat was under her nose the entire time - moreso, since the threat took the form of someone impersonating her own niece - and, because of that, she overcompensates by acting overly cautious. It isn't just that she didn't see the Changelings coming; it's that everything she was planning with regards to Twilight was nearly undone by a threat that she didn't see coming. She doesn't want to deviate from the script, but she doesn't want to close herself to threats that demand intervention. That's where the "it" that she and Luna discuss comes in. We'll see where that leads in a little while.
"It" is not Trenton.
Gonna stay mum on the mythology that Twilight and Snake discuss, for fear that I might blab something that I'd rather not blab.
Apple Bloom (I spell it "Applebloom" in the story, which I know is incorrect, but I'll be damned if I'm going to ctrl +F/replace every single goddamned instance of that name, so Applebloom it is) hugging Snake is one of those iconic moments that I conceived early in the writing of the story, and have been itching to write in for years. I think, if there's one thing that I'm proud of in Pony Gear Solid, it's Apple Bloom hugging Snake and calling him a hero.
It is somewhat implied that Fluttershy has a thing for Snake. This is not important to either of their characters; it's just something I threw in while drinking undiluted LSD and huffing fanfiction. Snake likes human women, and possibly human men, depending on whether or not you accept the gay subtext in Guns of the Patriots as canon.
As soon as I realized how much emphasis I was putting on Snake hating Pinkie Pie, I knew that I needed to put them in a scene together. I just didn't know what the hell would happen. I wanted them to reconcile, to an extent, but how to get there threw me for a bit of a loop. I thought about Snake's character, and what was important to him, and remembered that the message of Sons of Liberty was to find something to believe in, and to pass it on to others. Pinkie Pie, of course, loves to make her friends smile, smile, smile, and beam, beam, beam, which is her own meme, meme, meme, which she passes on to others. Of course, Snake would never be all
so I thought that might be a good way to reconcile the two characters.
The scene with Rarity was very difficult to put together, and it went through a few different transformations. Rarity was initially completely manic, and had torn apart the boutique overnight in a fit of anger and self-reproach. There's a remnant of that original scene when she tells Twilight that the boutique's a mess inside, if you find stuff like that interesting. Among other things, she quoted a line from a YouTube Poop ("Fluttershy! You're nude!" from God Burns Down Equestria for the Insurance Money). Miffy and I both agreed that it was tonally inappropriate, so I rewrote it - and Rarity - to be more subdued.
Also, she openly declared that she had feelings for Spike, to Twilight's dismay. Again, on Miffy's advice, I rewrote that. Personally, I don't have a problem with that particular ship, since Spike's age and relative maturity are both very ambiguous. There are a few stories which use that element very well (in particular, Of Age, by Paleowriter), but Spike and Rarity hooking up isn't the point of Pony Gear Solid. The point of Pony Gear Solid is that Pony Gear Solid should never have been written. Anyway, I took it out; it's subtextual, but I won't even pretend that it isn't there.
Twilight originally manipulated the situation, not Snake, to get what she wanted - Snake would have been jailed for leaving Twilight's custody if she'd gone to Dodge without him - but Twilight's somewhat more redeemable if she futzes with Snake's conscience to get what she wants.
Something worth noting is that Twilight doesn't fully like, or trust, Snake, despite what they've been through. She trusts him not to betray them, but she sees him as an ally of convenience, not someone with any real motivation to save Equestria. He's got his own thing to do, and he'll help the mane six because their interests align, but Twilight didn't trust him to stick around once those interests began to diverge. She would like to call him her friend, and mean it, but the situation doesn't allow for it.
A subtle part of Snake's character in MGS is that he's haunted by what Liquid said to him - that the two of them were exactly alike, and that Snake was every bit as bloodthirsty as Liquid. That informs a lot of Snake's subsequent characterization - why he uses tranquilizers in Sons of Liberty, why you never see him kill anybody outside of the gun battle in Arsenal Gear, and why he'll have a PTSD flashback in MGS4 if you kill enough enemies. So I think that, when he comes to a moral crossroad, he asks himself "What Would Liquid Do?" and chooses the opposite answer.
Additionally, Snake's been shown to have some reverence for the dead, honoring final requests and hearing out his enemies' dying words, even when they have done nothing to earn that courtesy. Given that he believes Rainbow Dash is dead, I think he'd honor the promise he made her to not abandon Twilight and the others. Twilight has no reason to believe this, but had she asked for Snake's help outright, he probably would have given it, albeit begrudgingly.
There are three scenes which were supposed to be in this chapter, which were cut for time and length considerations. One is Luna interrogating Discord; the other two, I won't say. They're important, though, and they feature Fluttershy. The next chapter will be those three scenes, and probably nothing else; the one after that will deal with Snake and Twilight's field trip.
The interlude chapter - Better Days - was my way of apologizing for taking so long. Like I said in the author's note, it doesn't have much to do with what's going on, but it does have some thematic significance, most of which won't be evident right away. Obviously, Paz and Chico were talking about a pegasus, and Rainbow Dash is a pegasus, so it's all very deep and symbolic and other lit major crap like that.
I might do one or two more Interlude chapters; I have scenes in mind - for instance, how Trenton and Cain met - which I'd like to include, but don't really fit into the story as I've laid it out. That, or they're too spoileriffic. Who knows what I'll do? I certainly don't.
I hereby dub the coat Rarity made Snake the Black Diamond. It is magically temperature-regulating, bulletproof due to having a lining of mythrill and crushed diamond, and it can morph into a ninja catsuit with a ridiculously high v-collar with a slit in back for Snake's wavy-ass headbandanna tails. It also allows him to walk on clouds, seal minor flesh wounds, keeps his cigarette lit in the wind while obscuring the odor, impersonate Batma- ...it's not gonna be in the story again, is it?
1951313 It's just a coat, sadly. It's a nice coat, though! And it's stylish.
I plan for it to come back.
Fluttershy had feelings for Snake? I didn't pick up on that at all. I thought that was just wishful thinking on the part of the commenters that chapter. But if it's actually an intentional thing you did, then I'm left wondering what the point is. You said that it's not important, but then why did you put it in in the first place?
And Snake being haunted by Liquid's words was definitely something I was happy to see incorporated. You're right, it is a subtle part of his character, but it's still there and I still consider it to be a damn important part.
It even goes as far as affecting the gameplay. The original Metal Gear Solid pretty much forced you to kill at least a few enemies, and it's only after going through that character arc and hearing those words from Liquid that it became possible in subsequent games to use tranquilisers and make no-kill runs (which I always do, because it feels more in-character for Snake after MGS1).
Granted the Twin Snakes remake retroactively gave him tranquilisers in the Shadow Moses incident and made a no-kill run possible there too, but even though I like Twin Snakes more, I still consider the PS1 version to be the canon one. Mostly because the enabling of that feature in Twin Snakes actually created plot-holes that didn't exist before, such as how Sniper Wolf had a bloody chest wound if you fight her with tranquiliser weapons. Considering that FOXHOUND all died, it just makes more sense to me from a story perspective to discount that weirdness.
1966653 I wouldn't say she has feelings for him, but if any of the cast would be capable of developing a xenophilic attraction toward a member of another species, it'd be Fluttershy.
As for why, I guess because I can't think of much to do with Fluttershy. She's not my favorite character to write for, because she has the least personality of any of the cast. I have a role in mind for her, but it'll be a little while before it starts to pay off, so... I suppose my answer is that I need something to do with her in the meantime. She features pretty heavily in the next chapter, though.
It could also be that part of it is just Snake imagining things - the opposite of Naked Snake's obliviousness toward Ocelot's crush on him in Snake Eater, if you will.
Re: Twin Snakes: People tend to have extreme opinions on Twin Snakes - whether it's a dramatic improvement over the original, or a pointless rehash that mucks everything up. Personally, I like it fine, even if I think Sons of Liberty's gameplay screws with some of the original game's level design. The GameCube pad is also a pain in the ass, considering the lack of pressure-sensitive buttons. The tank fight was unnecessarily complicated because of that.
Overall, I prefer the original, but Twin Snakes isn't without its merits. It's got a killer soundtrack, too.
1967207
Won't lie, the gameplay change did screw with the formula a bit, not least in the mechanic with the tranquilisers that I mentioned. The main reason I like Twin Snakes more is admittedly a shallow preference for the graphics of it. Considering that the cutscenes and story is such a large part of the draw for Metal Gear Solid, I just prefer the version that does the cutscenes better. They even have actual faces in the remake! But, like you, I'm still aware of the other side of the fence and can see why that wouldn't save it for some people.
1967321 The presentation is admittedly excellent. Still, Snake's facial expressions weren't always...
I also don't care for the cutscenes where Snake does bizarre action-movie stunts; they're over the top even by Metal Gear's standards. I mean, he did pull off some acrobatic stuff in MGS1 (I'm particularly fond of his back-flipping away from the tank shell that Raven fires at him), and it's a shame that we never saw him do more of that in the subsequent games, but TTS has him spring-boarding off of missiles, and doing some kind of weird, gyrating gun kata during the final chase with Liquid.
He also comes across as a lunatic in one or two of them, like when he gets so frustrated with the ArmsTech president's forgetfulness that he pulls a gun on him. It's kind of funny, but ludicrously out of character.
The stuff with Fox, on the other hand, is boss, and beyond reproach.
1967653
I pretty much can agree with all of this.