Finally Caught Up on MLP, and Overthinking Things · 5:17pm Nov 2nd, 2015
I got behind, not least of all because my daughter is a weirdo -- she finds the show too scary, and would rather watch terrifying documentaries on the Weather Channel. Anyway, there's a lot of good stuff in there -- especially Hearthbreakers. Let's see -- unpacking holiday traditions in different regions of Equestria. That's priceless, fanfic-wise. The Pies are a strange lot, as well -- their thees and thous and odd rock rituals could be easily spun into them being part of some kind of organized religion.
Religion is oddly absent from Equestrain public life. Almost all human cultures have some kind of religion: it offers an explanatory framework in cultures that haven't discovered the scientific method, it helps bind cultures together with common beliefs and rituals, and it provides a way of cultivating one's inner life and feeling a connection with the world around you. I entertain the idea that, unlike humans, ponies simply don't need religion -- their highly scientific form of magic covers the explanatory functions of religion, their philosophy of friendship and their veneration of the princesses cover the social functions, and... well, I'm not sure what covers the internal, spiritual aspects of religion for them, but they must have something. Zecora seems to practice some form of yoga or meditation, for instance. Oh, wait, I know -- it's the cutie mark thing. They all gain purpose from those things; the cutie mark lets them know their role in society, and also gives them insights into their inner selves.
Anyway, though, don't need isn't the same as can't have. Just as humans can live quite well in secular societies, Ponies might sometimes adopt religion, if it became advantageous for them to do so. I think it would be interesting if in very remote areas, cults of various types develop to address the needs of ponies in environments that aren't suited to normal pony life.
Consider the Apples' and the Pies' different approaches to Hearth's Warming Eve. The Apples' rituals are based around patriotism (the story of the founding of Equestria) and around the prosperity that most of Equestria seems to enjoy -- feasting, gifts, decorations and parties. The Pies live in a frankly brutal environment, farming, um, rocks. For some reason. Anyway, for Hearthswarming "celebrations" they eat rocks, remember their ancestors, and any gifts they get have to be earned, without any promise of reward. These ascetic practices make sense in such a harsh environment, where strength of will and seriousness of purpose are required for survival.
Sunset Glimmer's cult also made it's home in a rocky and desolate region, so maybe that supports this idea, too.
Anyway, the other thing I liked about Hearthbreakers: MarbleMac. Eyup. I'll be writing about that in the future. Maybe a sequel to Hot Harvest? I dunno.
A MarbleMac sequel? The ship is so cute, b-but . . . would it mean ship CheeriMac would have to sink?
But in all seriousness, interesting thoughts! Keep blogging whenever you overthink an episode and want to share!
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Ohhhh, I have some bad news for you about CheeriMac in my continuity...
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Admittedly, Cheerilee is in a position to completely scuttle my endgame, if she decides to forgive Big Mac. I'm not sure that's likely, with the super scanty characterization I'm given her so far, but it's possible. Hopefully if she does, I can spin it into an even more epicly pervy ending than I had planned.
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The characters one writes will act on the strangest of whims; as an RPer, I know this to be true.
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I earned a lot of my character writing skills in an old friend's tabletop campaigns! I don't have time to RP any more, but he was a good DM.
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I did, too! God, tabletops are great. There's nothing better than collaborative storytelling. And man, for Ponyfinder, you make time.