Future fic ideas! (Want to help me decide what to work on next?) · 4:14pm Jul 11th, 2014
Warning: Excessively long blog post ahead. TL;DR - Turns out a lot of people like "One of Those Days". I have a bunch more story ideas - here are some of them, which should I be planning for? I use the flimsiest of excuses to make this blog relevant enough to justify tagging "One of Those Days". My ego overflows and I am very tired. I blatantly dig for followers by saying "Here's what you could see in future". Writing to occur this weekend! Come chat with me sometime.
So it turns out I hit 1000 favourites on "One of Those Days" a couple days ago. And I was all "I should do something special for this."
And I came up with something (vaguely) special, but it's taken me a couple days, and I thought to myself before I wrote this blog "Eh, I've had more than a few extra notifications since then, I could probably make a joke about nearly getting to 1100 or something before I start."
So I check, and it turns out I'm about four under 1200. (Edit: And by the time I finished writing this blog, it was six over.)
I continue to be flabbergasted.
SO! Anyway, now that I'm done blatantly patting myself on the back and feeding my own ego ('cos seriously you guys, wow, thank you all =D) I came up with something that I hope will entertain you: A collection of the story ideas that I've had and could work on in future! Because I can't go five days without a new one rattling around in my head. And getting them down on paper blog means I'm that much less likely to forget about them.
These are the basic synopses (synopsises?) for a bunch of story ideas that might happen, once I finish One of Those Days. To be fair, this is actually rather cruel of me, as at my current rate of writing that means it'll be another two years before any of them see the light of day, but hey.
I'll probably do a callback to this once I finish OoTD but it'd be nice to know what people are actually interested in reading, and if there are any questions or otherwise that might be worth thinking about before I actually try putting them into action. So feel free to let me know if anything here tickles your fancy! Or if anything here gives you ideas of your own, go write them, then tell me about them!
Little Deceptions
(One-shot)
(Slice of Life) (Comedy?)
(OC) (Celestia)
Blank Slate is the greatest thief of his generation. He has robbed countless nigh-impossible marks, and his talents as a master of disguise are beyond par - truly, nopony knows who he is.
But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one past the one who defines when ‘early in the morning’ is…
The Price of Harmony
(Trilogy)
(Adventure)
(Main Six) (Spike) (OC)
An opening in a world-renowned team. A once-in-a-lifetime offer.
An inexplicable sickness. Strange movements in the Everfree.
Secrets of history and the nature of magic itself.
A new threat moving in secret, their intentions unknown.
Sometimes life's challenges can bring ponies closer together as they combine their strengths to overcome them; sometimes they become too large to share, and can drive them apart.
As a series of disasters and opportunities strike for Twilight and her friends, and worrying signs come to light that might herald disaster for Equestria, they each have to determine where their priorities lie.
Because sometimes, a series of apparently unconnected events may not be quite as coincidental as it seems... especially when the Elements of Harmony are involved.
(Worldbuilding epic, alternate season 3 fic - very much behind the times, this was one of the first fics I planned, but never actually got around to doing anything with! Sad.)
The Fall of the Sisters
(Short Multi-chapter)
(Adventure)
(Celestia) (Luna) (OC)
“And as we all know, everypony, today is a very special day! Celebrations are in full swing all across Equestria as we remember the horror that descended on Marebourne city, and the brave mares and stallions who put a stop to it!
Everyone please remember to give generously to support those who were affected by this disaster, and raise a toast to the six brave young souls, wherever they are now, who came together and defeated the Demon Sisters of day and night!”
Six rather diverse ponies come together, a year after they first met - when two demon mares descended upon their world, twice the size of regular ponies, with the magic of all three tribes together, manes and tails that seemed composed of magic itself, and capable of altering the very nature of the world around them - and reminisce on the times they have spent together, their battle against this threat, and the consequences for the world and themselves.
(What if: A society that had never heard of Alicorns suddenly had Celestia and Luna drop in and start trying to run the place?)
Irreconcilable
(Long story)
(Human) (Adventure)
(Mane Six) (Princess Twilight) (OC)
“Mission report: Preliminary scouting
Dimension: DX-139-6000-00004
Non-Terran Physics: Extreme
Local wildlife: Yes
Local civilisation: Yes
Civilisation description: Non-human. Multiple sapient species; Primarily equine, medieval technology, extreme non-technological capacity
Suitable for trading and diplomacy: No.
Suitable for colonisation and mining: No.
Suitable for study and research: No.
Potential Resources: None.
Potential Danger: Beyond classification
Summary: Although the dimension appears at first to be of excellent quality and potential, this dimension must be marked unsuitable for all further exploration and transport. Nothing we possess is of value to the locals; nothing in DX-139-6000-00004 is of value to us. Exposure to DX-139-6000-00004 may be considered irreversibly damaging to all non-local life forms after unknown period.
Scouting team not able to return to base. Do not send reinforcements or support. Do not attempt further scouting. Highly recommend discontinuation of further attempts to scout 6000 series.
Full report within.”
(Sometimes it’s not just language or cultural barriers that need to be broken down in first contact, but metaphysical ones. When ponies and humans meet for the first time, it is not merely as aliens, but eldritch abominations…)
Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon
(Long story)
(Romance) (Slice of Life)
(CMC) (Spike)
(Teen) (Sex)
Scootaloo has a problem. It’s a complicated problem - her friends are growing apart from her, moving on with their own lives in their own ways, and soon they might be gone forever.
Scootaloo has a plan to fix that problem. It’s a simple plan, really.
All she has to do is seduce a dragon.
Then her friends and her can stay together happily forever.
Shouldn’t be too difficult, right?
(Sequel to Xenophilia: Setting Examples)
Overheated
(Short multi-chapter)
(Slice of life)
(Fluttershy) (Princess Twilight)
(mature) (sex)
It’s that season again, where all the little critters go and do what comes most naturally to them. And, naturally, that means Fluttershy is being run off her hooves. It’s not that she doesn’t want to take care of them or anything, but they can be a little demanding. And with more critters than ever to deal with, even Fluttershy’s patience and kindness might have its limits. Surely it can’t be that distracting that she has to do everything else for them?
But when Twilight mentions she has a spell that will let Fluttershy know what it feels like, she decides (with a little encouragement from a certain rabbit) to try it, to understand her animal friends a little better. After all, Twilight assures her, it’s an easy spell to counter whenever she feels like it would be too much. Just because Twilight has never actually cast it before, let alone as a princess, doesn’t mean Fluttershy has got anything to worry about...
(Porn with plot? Porn with plot. Not much plot. Probably not much porn either. Never tried this whole clop thing before.)
All or nothing
(Ongoing episodic)
(Romance) (Comedy)
(Princess Twilight) (Celestia)
(Mature) (Sex)
Twilight has decided that it’s time to become interested in studying this whole… ‘sex’ thing. And who else could she possibly want to study it with than her mentor and princess of the sun?
Well, maybe there might be a few hitches there. Like the fact that Celestia has lived several orders of magnitude longer than her. And has the experience to match. In short, there’s really not much Twilight can offer that would be interesting or original to somepony who’s seen and done just about everything.
Of course, with a little memory magic, maybe Twilight can get the princess she wants something new and interesting…
But memory magic is a touchy thing, and it’s a little all-or-nothing. So now Twilight is trying to seduce the most powerful pony in the world, who she loves and respects more than anything… and who has absolutely no idea what sex is.
(Basically a series of blind-leading-the-blind romantic comedy that may eventually actually lead to something steamy)
The Queen of Equestria
(One-shot)
(Princess Twilight) (Celestia)
Twilight never really wondered why the rulers of Equestria called themselves Princesses, instead of Queens.
But when she finds a path hidden by magic more powerful than any she’s before encountered, she finds the truth behind Equestria’s rulership… and what Celestia may have planned for the future.
Hidden forces
(Short multi-chapter)
(Princess Twilight) (Celestia) (Luna)
The spell was horrifying. Hidden carefully, it was complex beyond beyond anything I’d seen, and it… well, it had scrying, and manipulation, and direct control, and focus for countless other spells… and it was strongest right there, in the throne room.
I couldn’t let something like that just sit there! Who knows what it was doing to ponies? I could’ve studied it for months, but every day it stood there, somepony was seeing everything that went on, and controlling things - right in the middle of Canterlot.
So I broke it.
But whoever cast it… it looks like I tipped them off. Whatever they were planning, they’ve started it. And it looks like the first step was… was...
...Nobody’s seen the princesses since.
What have I done?
(These two fics have a very similar start point, but fairly different ends. Regardless, they're simple "What ifs", fairly short, and just generally dealing with the nature of magic and Alicorns)
A change for Ponyville
(Ongoing)
(Princess Twilight) (Mane six) (CMC) (Spike)
(Dark) (Slice of Life)
Bad: One of your friends has been replaced by a changeling.
Worse: All of your friends have been replaced by changelings.
Wait, what?: Everyone in Ponyville has been replaced by changelings. Including you.
When Twilight wakes up with chitin, holes and fangs, and everypony else in town has a similar predicament, there’s a lot of questions on her mind. But as the queen of this new swarm, she’s going to have bigger problems than figuring out the cause of this transformation soon enough.
After all… everypony’s beginning to get hungry.
(Not much more to say than is in the description!)
Love and Pleasure
(Multi-chapter)
(Changelings)(???)
(Slice of Life)(Romance)
(Mature) (sex)
For most creatures, the act of mating is one of the greatest acts of love and pleasure one can share. For changelings, this is mostly true - but love or pleasure are split.
A changeling can be with a pony for love, pretending to be a pony like them; or with a changeling for pleasure, using their transformative ability to do some amazing things ponies could never dream of. For changelings, the two are not even really considered to be the same act at all, and most changelings have their sources for both.
But when a strange series of events and a magical inhibitor lead one young changeling mare to accidentally find herself combining love and pleasure with her special somepony, she’s going to have a lot of trouble going back to the old ways - which is going to put everything she’s built at risk.
(Plot with porn - while sex is sort of the key factor here, the story will be focused far more on the relationships and social/physical differences between changelings and ponies)
An Empire Divided
(Ongoing)
(Cadance) (Shining Armour) (Changelings) (OC)
(Adventure) (Slice of Life)
(Teen) (Gore)
The Crystal Empire: A shining, fertile jewel in an endless tundra. Recently returned from a thousand years’ stasis, liberated from the dark curse of Sombra, and now under the rulership of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
Well, mostly under the rulership of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
Sombra wasn’t the only dark power sealed away with the crystal city, and was not the only one to return. Now, on top of rehabilitating and reintegrating an empire of time-lost and liberated slaves with modern Equestria, the would-be ruler and her husband must deal with a new (old?) changeling queen, dark magic, windigos, meddling Equestrians and draconic raiders…
And some who had their own reasons to resent Sombra’s death.
A somewhat more political piece, focusing on the Crystal Empire as a whole and multiple players. This would be quite a large one that I would likely be looking into some form of collaboration for...
And that's the list for now!
Any questions or votes are welcome! (Also open for voting: Finishing some of the fics I actually have half-finished, like Martyr of the Hive or Mare in the Mirror!)
Also, anyone who wants to contact me and just chat pony is welcome! My schedule may be a little difficult to reconcile due to the whole "Australia" thing, what can you do, but I plan to be trying to write for much of my Sunday (Saturday for most people) so people are welcome to come distract me! I'm "damostaranth" (give or take an "@hotmail.com") on most of the standard messenger programs (Steam, AIM, Skype) so if anyone wants to PM me on those or here at fimfic, or advise a decent chatroom, I'll be sociable! Friendship, magic, woo!
...I may be very tired right now. Randomness and poor decisionmaking at peak.
May be be sociable when I'm more awake :)
Irreconcilable looks like it's right up my aly. I vote thusly.
2274386 And the voting is complete! The human in Equestria fic it shall be.
Only not really.
Well, maybe, but needs more people's opinions, not just those who read real damn fast :)
2274391 a mix of fast reading and skimming over the stuff I wasn't interested in. Though I'm curious, how long after you posted did I reply? Cause I just woke up, and didn't start reading it until I had looked through all my updated faves.
2274396
Are you suggesting that not every word I write is of absolute interest to you and holds your attention absolutely?
That's fairly reasonable, I can't even be bothered paying attention to myself half the time.
Anyway, about six minutes between blog post and your reply, I think. Which is not bad for 2000+ words of bloggery.
Love and Pleasure and Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon sound good.
I vote for a story ϵ {Little Deceptions, Irreconcilable, All or Nothing}. They all sound good, but those sound the best.
I vote for the Xenophilia one!
Most of these sound like with the proper care they could be quite good. The only one I'd say shouldn't be done would be "The Price of Harmony" since you say you'd be starting from Season 3, and starting from a point that far back (I'm assuming ignoring/negating everything past that point in the show) more than a year later is going to turn off a lot of potential readers right from the start. I'd also be very wary of "Irreconcilable" because large-scale meetings of HiE are veritable landmine strewn fields for an author to walk through (would have been perfect for Obsolescence's Most Dangerous Game competition that just ended).
As for what I'd like to see, I'd really enjoy seeing "All or Nothing" as blind-leading-the-blind comedies have a certain appeal to me. Shockingly I'd also really enjoy "Xenophilia: Three Fillies and a Dragon" and would be glad to offer any meager help I might be should you decide to pursue that project.
as a fan of Xenophila and SpikexAllTheMares the idea of 'Xenophilia: Three Fillies and a Dragon' gets my vote
Irreconcilable gets my vote. However, failing that, An Empire Divided looks promising- but not as much so as Irreconcilable.
Skimmed this. The first one (thief) and the HiE one seem interesting. Would probably check those out.
The rest seem mostly OK but not really my thing.
I am not a fan of shipping or clop, but there are plenty who are so I can't claim those are a bad idea. But I can say it.
You don't seem to have a lot of passion for the explicit sex itself, rather more the premises by which such events would be made possible. Of course those premises seem very random and nonsensical because that is how people tend to think when they focus on sex. No matter how we phrase it what we are really thinking is "wanna bang?" This is also why a lot of readers don't especially care about the overall cohesion amd quality of such fics.
I would advise, unless all you seek is popularity via suppying free "junk food", that if you want to write erotic fiction you focus not on the erotic side of it but the fiction side. Then either write in sex scenes where they belong in your narrative or write them as a side story so you can keep the rating of the fic they take place in. And remember they only need to be as graphically descriptive as you want them to be. I have read very erotic sex scenes which do not describe anatomy at all.
Of course it's up to you and I won't complain if you write clop, this is just my advice.
Irreconcilable and The Queen of Equestria both seem to be pretty cool ideas.
2274752 I actually had a story idea I was playing around with right near the beginning of my fimfic career that would have been perfect for the most dangerous game, considering I think it hit at least two of the categories (And would not have been hard to put into second person either!) - it was basically more a learning fic for myself to get into the heads and words of the mane six, from the point of view of a new pony (Who was an OC Alicorn, had no memories, and Twilight seemed to have a considerable interest in...)
I ended up scrapping the idea ages ago since, despite the key idea behind it being actually fairly original as far as I could tell, and being mostly written just for my own practice purposes... the cliché list was so high I doubted anyone would ever read it.
I didn't notice the MDG until too late - and admittedly, given my rate of writing, too late would have been last year.
2275418 Damned observant of you, sir or sir substitute. I'm generally far more interested in the ideas, interactions and personalities behind the clop than the descriptive clop itself. "All or Nothing" and "Love and Pleasure" are both going to involve sex as rather central plot points, but the point behind them would not be 'junk food' as you say - more, 'chips on the side', to stretch the metaphor a little. (Can't say much for "Overheated", though - I'll admit that one was fairly junk-y, even if it was always going to be focused more on Fluttershy's freaking out than actual sex)
2274546 2274696 2275304 2275321 2275423 2274413 Thank you all for your input! At the moment it looks like Xenophilia and Irreconcilable are looking to be the top voted slots. However, as these are two of the longest ones I have planned, and require the most planning, there's a good chance some of the shorter/more episodic ones might get worked in as well.
Still open for questions or more votes! After all, there's not much chance of any of this seeing much light of day until post OoTD...
2275505
Honestly that one I find highly amusing since it would mean that ponies do not naturally go into heat as terestrial horses do (so many people assume they do) yet you found an excuse to have a pony go into heat.
All I can say is "Poor Fluttershy!"
I really should blog my fic ideas too. If only to have others adopt them. For instance I came up with the full outline of an elaborate Twilestia even though I don't like shipping much.
My vote would actually be for the The Price of Harmony, but that's mostly because I'm an adventure junkie. Alternately, The Fall of the Sisters and Hidden Forces all look interesting. Sadly, I'm not really interested iXenophlia (haven't read it at all) and honestly, HiE stories are really, really hard to pull off right.
I would like to see, in this order:
There's just so much behind this that I WANT IT NEED IT 
Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon: Xeno? Spike+CMC? Oh sweet Cadance YES!
Irreconcilable: OH MY FAUST YES
Little Deceptions: Seems short and sweet, and tremendously funny. Fast to get through, and on to something more meaty. Techincally #1 spot, but the top two seem much more juicy.
The Queen of Equestria: Twilight OP. Nerf now. This one looks fun, and the hook is just juicy as Sweet Apple Acres...
The Fall of the Sisters: Seems like a really interesting Alternate Universe. I'm always up for one of those.
All or nothing: I can never say no to Twilestia
An Empire Divided: Looks like fun, even though it'd have a much longer time until the payoff.
I would definitely not like to see Overheated: This premise seems a little strange to me. Fluttershy is having trouble sympathizing with her animals because their in heat? Ponies have estrous cycles, just like most of Flutter's animals. On top of that, animal heat cycles lining up like just stretches Suspension of Disbelief too much...
Hm...
I'd say start with Little Deceptions; being short, it ought not to take too very long. After that, though… Hm. The Fall of the Sisters, Irreconcilable, and A change for Ponyville? I'm not sure what ranks I'd give them, though.
Actually, though, looking at the comments, it looks like you've votes for the first and second of those but none yet for A change for Ponyville. I think I'll bump that up to a slightly higher priority than the other two in response (sorry for making your choice more difficult, but there's plenty of time left for voting).
2275624
Two things:
1: Yes ponies have estrus cycles just like humans have menstrual cycles. But humans do not go into heat and it does not make sense for ponies to do so either; for the same reasons humans do not go into heat like chimps, ponies would not go into heat like Terran horses.
2: The majority of animal reproductive cycles are governed by the seasons, and particularly by the amount and intensity of sunlight available during a given time of year. It is quite reasonable for the majority of animals to cycle at approximately the same time of year.
Hey, I loved your last Xenophilia fic, and I'd love to see the sequel!
Xenophilia fic is almost what I'd choose. Hell, it's what I came here to choose. But humans as eldritch abominations? Sign. Me. Up!
"Three Fillies and a Dragon"- always wanted to see a sequel to that.
"Irreconcilable"- sounds exciting!
"Fall of the Sisters"-sounds fascinating, I've always liked stories that flip canon around like that! So long as they're well written.
2275766
The reason for having menstrual rather than an estrous cycle is actually entirely for reproductive strategy. The theories as to why are still in development, but one leading theory is that the mother needed to ensure the father would stay around longer(more likely to form a bond with repeated mating attempts when you can't tell your mate is ovulating). This might hold water for MLPonies. Pony foals seem to be a very strange mix between altruicial(high parental care time+energy) and precocial(low care). They spend the first weeks unable to care for themselves, then become about as active as horse foals(see: Pumpkin and Pound Cake). After that they have a fairly human-like foalhood, with an "early" toddlerhood of less than a year, and then are considered ready to enter society at around the onset of puberty.
If you take all this at face value, then...maybe. There's a good chance. Pony foal care would be one reason to select for menstrual cycles rather than estrous, but there's not enough evidence to say yes or no definitively. Applying the same logic as humans might be way off the mark anyway, since these are aliens who have telekinetic ability and a culture based around terraforming and the widespread taming of animals.
This logic is particularly flawed. One problem ranchers have is that, come spring and summer, they need to actively control when their breeders enter their fertile period. Animals react differently to stimuli, and this is especially true across species lines. Beyond that fact, most equinoids actually have multiple heats during the summer. They might not get pregnant the first time so they try to get multiple attempts in. Other animals have similar strategies.
In other words, animal heats would be spread across the spring and summer, and be far from concentrated. It would be a low amount of stress all the time, and there would never be a true "heat week" that would overwhelm an animal caretaker such as Fluttershy.
Anyway, if there's enough animals that that happens anyway, she'd need an assistant. Maybe a stallion. During the Ponyville heat months
edit: For the first point, a little more research has revealed something that actually debunks that "for the same reason" thing. Humans probably developed the menstrual cycle because we became BIPEDAL. That, in conjunction with larger heads for larger brains, caused problems with the birthing and conception process under the estrous system. Eventually proto-humans who were more or less fertilely independent of the seasons became more adaptable to their environment, and you have the beginnings of the menstrual system.
tl;dr Ponies, while aliens, are still more "pony" than "human". They have estrous cycles, not menstrual.
I vote for Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon
2275866
I am not comparing a heat cycle to a menstrual cycle. In fact there is some evidence that humans have estrus in addition to menses. The instinct has simply grown very weak to the point it is subconscious due to human evolution making it unnecessary for there to be a compulsion to breed when fertile.
Similarly ponies would still have estrus cycles, but combined with advanced evolution and widespread use of artificial lighting sources, the "heat" would probably be unnoticeable.
As for other animals, yes I agree that their mating cycles would not be focused on a small timeframe like 2 weeks or so. It would be spread out over mid spring to late summer. However, the springtime onset would tend to get hectic for species who breed in the spring. And yes animals have multiple cycles during the seasons, but if they are free, they will ususally get knocked up on the first one.
Fluttershy has a preserve, not a farm. She takes no control of her animals' natural ways.
Of course being Equestria I would not be surprised if the mating season involved the animals going out on dates and fawwing in wubb.
2275624 Let me get this straight - these ponies control the weather, the seasons, and pretty much do everything else necessary to keep the animal's natural cycles running... and the fact that they line up the animals' heat cycles is what breaks your suspension of disbelief? Remember - this ain't earth, things don't work the same way they do here.
All that was very much going to be dealt with in the fic - the ponies' magic actually has some degree of control over the animals' cycles - and Fluttershy had actually petitioned to have it more spread out but the bureaucracy refused, too much effort. Technically she does have assistance - it's actually more of an earth pony thing to handle - but you know Fluttershy, if they ask her for help it's going to be her that provides it.
The ponies USED to have estrus cycles, before they pretty much took over the natural order; now they can pretty much control their own fertility (to some degree) and don't 'naturally' go into heat. The spell Twilight has pretty much just lets the body remember how it used to work, and then sets the timer appropriately. (She learnt it in high school, where it got a fair bit of use - and more than a couple of unicorns expelled and at least one arrested, for casting it on unwitting or unwilling targets.)
But regardless, that appears to be one of the stories gathering the least interest, so I doubt it'll be seeing the light of day any time soon.
2275585 Blogging fic ideas is fun! If you can give inspiration to someone else for a
fic, double bonus.
2275763 Maximum vote to the lowest to try and even things out? Why would you do that? You monster. XD
At this point, Little Deceptions is likely to be the next thing that gets released (It's actually already half written, though I'm likely to scrap what I have and start from scratch)
2275807 2275840 2275849 2275873 Thank you everyone for your opinion! Looks pretty solid in favour of Three Fillies and a Dragon closely followed by Irreconcilable at this point! I blame 2274696.
The Fall of the Sisters looks awesome, I'd love to hear Luna and Celestia's dialogue with each other, and with the ponies.
2275914
There's actually no reason to think that artificial lighting affects human or animal cycles on the level were talking about. Humans have lived for tens of thousands of years without artificial lighting, but the evidence says that our menstrual cycles have not been affected much, if at all, by it.
Also, they generally use special lighting to induce heat in horses and cattle, not general house lighting.
So some ponies' schedules might be messed up if they work in an industry that keeps them around especially bright lights, but I don't think most ponies would be diverted from spring-summer estrous that often. Even for those it did, I'd like to see research about the effect of year-round light on animals heavily affected by the sun for estrous before I can accept that their cycles would be "unnoticable".
2275944
Thanks for responding! That actually all makes sense in a headcanon-y way. I can see it coming to pass with all the terraforming they do.
As for pony heat... Sure? I don't really see how they'd have done that, but the fact that you've thought about it works just fine for me. Move it to just above "Fall of the Sisters" for my voting order.
2275980
I consider ponies human analogues and even though their fertility cycles may be estrus-based because they are based on equines, their mating instincts and behaviour can not be far from that of humans or they would not share so many human relationship analogues or have stuff like Hearts and Hooves day or love potions and the like.
Also it would be pretty shit if mares had to spend a week a month locked up at home for fear of publicly shameful behaviours. After all, they tend to be naked almost all the time.
2276004
I like to think that they get by with either drugs or simple self-control, varying from pony to pony. If they want to get pregnant, just don't take your drugs and find your special stallion...
Anyway, I think regular bathing would help with the smell some. Either way, these are intelligent being we're talking about, not dumb animals.
2276043
A society who has to control seasonal nymphomania with artificial methods would be very unlikely to culturally evolve into a human-like one.
Also bating would do fuck all for pheromones and walking around incontinent and winking clitorises, not to mention soaking every seat, would be bad enough without every stallion dropping their dicks out.
Keep in mind that while the cycles would not necessarily match up exactly, it would still be population chunks, not individuals, going into estrus all together. It would be riots. Their society could not survive and would not resemble the one that exists in canon.
I am fine with all this as an ill-advised AU, but it would be unthinkable in canon.
Ponies going into heat naturally is a concept only truly endorsed by cloppers and people who watch the show anf think "lol hoers" instead of actually processing the information they are readily presented with.
And yes I am being a bit aggressive in my tone.
Three Fillies and a Dragon. Make it so, Number Two.
Three Fillies and a Dragon,
or, failing that,
Irreconcilable
2275944
"Maximum vote to the lowest to try and even things out? Why would you do that? You monster. XD"
Hey, only the lowest one of my three picks. :D
"At this point, Little Deceptions is likely to be the next thing that gets released (It's actually already half written, though I'm likely to scrap what I have and start from scratch)"
Nice. Hm, and I suppose that I'd better follow you so that I'll know when these things come out.
Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon
The xenophilia story sounds interesting.
Firstly, just the list of ideas is enough to get me to watch you.
Secondly, I'm going to vote for Irreconcilable. I love stories of compatibility issues between universes.
Xenophilia: three little fillies and a dragon
Three Fillies and a Dragon
That human fic seems interesting. That's the first time in like forever I've seen a human fic which seems good.
But before you start with anything new; couldn't you complete One of those days? It's awesome. On a stick.
Three Fillies!
I was so excited when you put the first chapter up, and I would love to see more exploration of the idea!
2276075
Right, because a few pheromones would totally negate that these are intelligent beings with a society that focuses on Friendship and Love, rather than Sex and Violence.
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, ponies go into heat because that's the general way the Writers of the show build up the species. There are constant Furry Reminders in the show, from rolling in grass to the way they walk to what they eat to body language. Now, this is a children's show, so we are NEVER EVER going to see a pony go into heat. It's more likely, though, given the tone of "these are magical horses with human culture" that they DO go into heat rather than have something like human cycles.
But you never know. They have slipped in various...less than child-safe references, such as The Big Lebowski, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), and implied infidelity in the Cake family(whether or not the last one is true YMMV), among other things. They could at some point drop an oblique reference to pony mating cycles. I wouldn't expect it, and would be surprised if it did show up, but the show has surprised me before.
Also, please don't make huge leaps of logic that end in "it can't be this way because it would look like this", because you don't know that. We can't actually ask a horse how distracting estrus is, and we have no idea how it would change if they had the ability to reason and a sense of modesty(misplaced sense, given how they are naked all the time, but both Rarity and Fluttershy have freaked out when barged in on...).
If this were, say, My Little Pony Tales, sure. These ponies go roller-skating, eat fish, don't even look at grass as food, and are pretty much humans in pony shape. If they had dealt with Teen problems, I'm sure they would have covered the female aspects of puberty at some point. That show was weird...
Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon
2277745
You really don't understand how pheromones work, do you?
Can you will yourself from blushing? Can you use reason to prevent yourself from experiencing arousal at all?
The mare's brain detects the season and releases hormones which make her extremely sexually aroused and compelled to mate and triggers the production of pheromones which are secreted via all bodily fluids.
When these pheromones contact a stallion's olfactory receptors, they send a signal to the stallion's brain which then triggers the release of hormones in his body which makes him extremely sexually aroused and compelled to mate.
Everything that happens in our brains, our minds, our reason, our emotions, our motivations... is chemicals. The only thing that affects this autonomic reaction is the dosage of the hormones.
Humans release a lot of hormones when they ovulate. It has been shown they release pheromones too. There was a study that showed that strippers get way more tips when they are ovulating. This is an unconscious effect. We don't even realize how the chemicals are altering our behavior. Now when an animal is in heat, it is much stronger because they release much more hormones. For a human equivalent, imagine if human puberty occurred over a couple weeks instead of a couple years. Would "reason" really play any role in anything someone that saturated with hormones did? Would they even reason the same way, or would they just be on autopilot with no conscious indication that anything wasn't as it should be?
Trust me. Animals in heat have no control. Chemicals > Reason every time. If we could overcome our biology with our "reason" we wouldn't have mental illness, would we?
Also, we've seen ponies rolling in the grass? Lol. Pinkie is the only one who has ever done this. You are basing a species behavior on Pinkie Pie. Lol. Besides. Pinkie is an adult but with the personality of a 13 year old. I am pretty sure a lot of human kids enjoy rolling in the grass too.
No. The only way that ponies would not be raping each other in the street, the only way they could have a human-analogous society, is if the level of hormones and pheromones released during estrus was much much lower than it is for less-evolved Terran horses. Just like human cycles evolved as we did. Not that our cycles and responses aren't terrifyingly strong, but in comparison to what less-evolved animals go through?
Animals have "no control" because they are mostly instinct-based to begin with, with learned behavior being secondary. When they enter an ovulation cycle the focus is merely shifted. But even then most animals still have the ability to select for specific qualities in a mate, and with or without a mate continue to keep doing whatever they would be doing anyway.. Between their instincts and limited reasoning, they are still able to function.
And on top of all this, you're still making a huge assumption that it overpower human-level reasoning. Yes, we are heavily influenced by our wiring and chemistry, I know all the facts you tossed at me, but that doesn't change that for the most part, we are still in complete control. These are some crude depictions of ponies in some clop(as fun or funny as some of those may be), these are characters with human-comparable(and in some cases beyond us) intelligence and willpower.
What you are describing is basically the height of the heat-curse from AJT's Beating the Heat(warning: mildly NSFW sillyness), when the more realistic version would probably be akin to anonauthor's Xenophilia(warning: actually NSFW plot-with-porn). They are wildly different creatures. One reduces those affected to rutting like animals, the other leaves those affected...amorous, and somewhat distracted, but otherwise fine. Society does not dissolve because these are intelligent creatures managing their problems.
In short, yes, some animals may be overcome by their heat, but they have so much less to overcome in the first place. MLPonies aren't dumb animals.
I like all the Ideas except Irreconcilable and Xenophilia. My favorite is probably The Fall of the Sisters, but A Change for Ponyville looks amazing, though it's listed as ongoing so writing it would probably be a long and tedious process, and The Price of Harmony looks like it would be good although it's quite short on details. Unfortunately, slow writing means that these things take a long time, so take it easy and get back to us whenever your ready to start something new.
Xenophilia: Three fillies and a dragon gets my vote, however, Irreconcilable sounds pretty neat too.
2278262
Yeah no.
Like I said, it has nothing to do with intelligence. In fact, instinct is always stronger than intellect.
If humans were "in control" we would not have mental illness, obesity, racism, unwanted pregnancy, addiction, rape, environmental destruction, wars, religions, etc.
Telling a sapient in heat to have control is about as effective as telling teenagers to abstain, drug addicts to get clean, corporations to eliminate world hunger, a drunk person to sober up, etc.
We are slaves to instincts and drives we only believe ourselves to have control over because they work the puppet strings so well we don't realize they are the ones controlling us.
Study how the human body and brain work, and you will realize most of your normal everyday actions and most of your normal everyday motivations have nothing at all do do with your conscious will.
And now realize that ponies would begin having heat when they were essentially still children.
This is a fantasy world full of ficticious elements. I really don't care if you want to believe ponies retain a level of estrus which has them go into heat yet maintain mental and emotional control over their urges, thoughts, and bodily responses. As long as you maintain it as your own headcanon, I can agree to disagree.
Also if you are going to use examples of stories that deal with pony heat, at least use ones that either don't glorify it or ones that aren't a complete AU with no canon reconciliation.
If you want a story that is at least slightly pragmatic about how shit a sapient species dealing with heat would be, read First Heat by Cosmonaut. NSFW.
2278628
I do not agree to disagree. That is a terrible idea, and if you just don't want to debate anymore then say so. "Agreeing to disagree" implies that we can both be right. (Being "right" in this case I think would mean striking closest to what the Writer's intention would be.) If you wish to just end the argument, say so and I'll drop the whole thing.
Your base assumption is that ponies do not have estrus, and rather have either a menstrual cycle, or something altogether different of their own design. This is based on the Unfortunate Implications found when applying animal behavior to another animal, and deciding that they stretch the Suspension of Disbelief too much.
My own base assumption is that ponies have estrus, and all the baggage that goes with that. This is based on the fact that the Writers of the show consistently reinforce that MLPonies have behavioral similarity to actual equines.
I could say that yours creates more out of whole-cloth than mine, and that therefor yours is the obvious headcanon(or at least moreso), but it's a matter of wording, and could easily be done the other direction. So I'll reiterate on something else.
Why would the existence of Estrus drive them mad? I mean, really? You base the idea that they would devolve into anarchy based on actual-horse reactions to estrus hormones and pheromones. That is a valid point, but it ignores something about MLPonies.
They are not, in fact, real ponies.
As much connection as they have to real equines, and even assuming they would be distantly related(as we are to orangutans), there are still many biological differences between the two. For one, they developed a very high degree of Sentience, and Sapience. As ponies moved toward their current state, they would probably find that the ability to choose their mates more wisely would increase the chance of passing on their genes successfully. This would not eliminate estrus entirely, but it would diminish the effects of the hormones and pheromones a great deal. The higher your clarity during mating season, the more likely you are to find a suitable mate.
This, of course, assumes an evolutionary standpoint. Ponies could just as easily have been created(this IS a magical world, after all), in which case there really is no point in any of this arguing. If it's your way, it just is. If it's my way, it'd just weaker than what you describe.
Anyway, evolution doesn't just create new mechanisms out of thin air. There has to be an emergent trait, and pressure to make that more highly selected in the environment. Degree of effectiveness of chemicals during estrus? Built in already, just waiting to be tweaked by time.
Non-estrus mating, on the other hand... For humans(as I said), the development of bipedalism was concurrent with and probably causal of the Menstrual Cycle. The strain on the pelvis and other factors(not helped by the increasingly large cranium) spelled the end of the estrus cycle in us. If you want to give ponies the same thing, you're out of luck, unless ponies developed the menstrual cycle for the same reason as certain whales. The current expalnation, in technical terms, for why they have such convergent evolution is "fuckifweknow".
edit: totally forgot to address a few of your points. I'll get back to you on those if you want.
I very much enjoyed Setting Examples. I would like to request
Xenophilia: 3 fillies and a dragon