Help! My Heart is Full of Pony! - World Building · 8:26am Oct 26th, 2016
Source: MLP: FIM Pilot. Airdate: 10/10/2010.
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is often lauded for its world building, as well it should be. Equestria is a vast world, full of different races, cultures, locations, and it is populated by hundreds of characters. These past few seasons in particular have made a mission of developing that world out to its furthest reaches - "exploring Equestria."
However, when I think of episodes that have expanded the universe, the one that tops my list doesn't have anything to do with Griffinstone, or the Dragonlands, or Yak Yakistan.
It's Amending Fences.
The purpose of world building is to create an immersive universe – a place that feels like it would continue to exist beyond the story being told.
Amending Fences, by exploring Twilight Sparkle's actions, and their long-reaching effects on Moondancer, changed the entire tone of the show, and opened up the entire universe. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic had frequently written in characters whose sole purpose was to drive a particular story forward, or to serve as plot devices, or as quick comic relief, or even just to fill space.
Background ponies.
Amending Fences, however, went out of its way to show us that everypony has a life outside of their immediate narrative function – that Equestria functions like the real world, where our actions impact others, even when we don't think about it, because it falls outside of our personal narratives.
Now, I live in Manehattan - a notoriously impersonal metropolis. Everything is so fast-paced here, that it is necessary to ignore the vast majority of the people around me just to get through my day. It's a place where people walk fast, and move along, furthering their own personal business, and personal responsibilities - leading their own personal narratives. On the surface, it seems antithetical to the sort of lifestyle that makes Ponyville so pastoral and inspiring - the communal lifestyle - the sense that, even though its citizens are far from perfect, they pull together, and contribute, regardless of whether they are wrapping up winter, or trying to generate enough wing power for a hurricane.
However, I have found that the key to that sense of community is not in location, but in attitude. We all have people whose paths we cross regularly - sometimes every day - and we don't talk to them – don't acknowledge them – don't treat them as though they are real, simply because they have no place in our direct personal narratives. When I used to work retail, I noticed how impersonal people tend to be. More often than not, you are invisible, unless the customer wants something; and when they do need something from you, they often treat you as though you are an NPC in a video game, not a person. Over time, I found that I always had three or four "favorite customers." Just to see them walk in the door brightened my day, because I knew that I would get respect and human interaction out of them - that they would inevitably say something to make me laugh, or smile.
So when I run into a cashier at the grocery store who has rung me up several times, or a barista who has made my coffee, I talk to them. I joke around. I make an effort. If you do this too, over the course of time, you find things out about each other. You start to ask questions like, "Are your kids feeling better?" And they ask in return, "How's your back?"
It's such an incredibly small thing, and such an incredibly important thing, and yet so many of us are missing this from our lives. Most of us have world building to do – to step outside of our narratives, and talk to people - actually talk to them. You don't have to be a great conversationalist to do this. The easiest door to open is to invite people to talk about themselves, and to listen. Or if you, like me, sometimes have trouble finding the right words, you can consider gestures.
Last year, I swung by the 24 hour bagel deli, to drop off cookies on Thanksgiving, because I felt bad that my acquaintance there had to drag themselves to work on the holiday. He was deeply moved by the gesture. I am saying this not to boast about a good deed, but to point out how easy it can be to make a connection with someone – that it costs nothing to brighten up someone's holiday, except in this case, for three dollars in cookies, and a few extra minutes of your time.
You would think that getting a feeling of community would be impossible in a city full of 9 million people, (especially a place like New Yoke - notorious for treating one another impersonally, and anonymously), but it's really not impossible. Obviously, we all have limitations when it comes to social skill, and anxiety is an issue for a great many people, but regardless of whether you're like Pinkie Pie, or like Fluttershy, with a little bit of extra effort, we can expand our limits, even if only a little bit. We can expand our universes, do some world building, and look beyond our own narratives.
The idyllic community that we see in Ponyville, and yearn for in our lives is actually under our noses. It's the people we interact with every day.
-Sprocket
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Really good advice here.
Only one slight trouble with this, and it's that whoever you try to open up to, has to be ready to open up themselves. If you try to make a connection of any sort with someone who just isn't up to it at that moment*, the NPC-ness will continue on both sides.
I've been on both sides of this blocked-off moment (as I've realized only after-the-fact) and sometimes there's just nothing you can do about it.
*Or sometimes ever. Some people are just closed-off.
You have to feel people out. Obviously you can't make friends with everyone you meet, but 1 out of 10 usually ends you up with an ally in every store.