Sure Is 2013 In Here... · 9:55pm Aug 13th, 2020
Howdy folks! First and foremost, as always, Adorable Applejack:
Sleepy Appul
Now then, this blog contains spoilers for my new story Best Left Unsaid. You should read that first, as this is meant to answer a few questions you may have afterward.
Y'all already know that I finished an old-ass story, and here it is! Like I said, this one has been kicking around my mind back in 2013. To me, this story is the purest form of what fan fiction is all about aside from the self-insert shipping and porn: taking a tiny, insignificant piece of info from the show, or even just something the writers never noticed, and running with it.
The initial idea came after I re-watched Ponyville Confidential for the third time, I think, and something clicked in my head. Featherweight plays a significant role in the story... but he never says a word. Like, ponies talk to him, but he just smiles and nods. To my knowledge, he is the only character in the entire show who has played a role that big in an episode without a single line of dialogue. Now, the obvious meta reasons for this could be they didn't want to hire another voice actor, or maybe the writers just didn't need him to speak. But as I said, this is fan fiction, where we latch onto a silly, unimportant thing and blow it up into a story. So I had an idea: what if the reason Featherweight doesn't speak... is because he can't? And just like that, a story was born.
The thing I agonized most about the story was the pony sign language Feathers would use. I'm pretty sure a lot of people way smarter than me have pondered this and come up with ingenious systems. Hell, Senpai PresentPerfect wrote a blog about it about a week ago... which is actually what made me get serious about finishing this beast. What I came up with is that Feathers uses a pegasus variant of ESL, or Equestrian Sign Language. The main version uses a combination of hoof, ear, and eyebrow movements to communicate. I included the ears and eyebrows because an earth pony wouldn't always be able to use their hooves. The pegasus version incorporates wings, as well. Way back when, I actually intended to research ASL and try to copy some of the motions. Eventually, I realized it would probably be enough to let the reader infer what they said based on the reactions and responses of who they were talking to. Plus that would have been way too much work.
Now, there were actually a few other reasons I wanted to write this fic. One was that I had been on a FeatherLoo binge at the time. Hell, I even included it in the epilogue to Finding Your Place. In fact, up until yesterday, the GDoc was titled "Feathership." However, I do not trust myself to write an actual romance, so I wanted it to be a bit low-key, a sort of "Hey, something might be here" kind of deal. Also, from S2 onward, I have held the head canon that Scootaloo is disabled and will never fly. I used to go with just her tiny wings, but when S9 came around and revealed that her dad Snap Shutter was an earth pony, the "crossed magical wires" angle became much more appealing to me. By the by, did y'all notice that Aunts Lofty and Holiday are also a pegasus/earth pony couple? Regardless if it's Snap and Holiday or Mane Allgood and Lofty who are siblings, it seems that particular fetish runs in the family...
Another reason was to use a new (to me) head canon inspired from a picture I saw around that time that instantly made me fall in love with the concept the moment I saw it:
Isn't that just... perfect? Like, the dichotomy of the huge, musclebound stallion having a son who is all frail and gangly is just too adorable for words. Plus at the time of S3-4, Bulk had no characterization beyond YEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!! Hell, he didn't even have a name! The fandom had taken to calling him either Roid Rage or Snowflake, which I called him in FYP when I mentioned him being General Stone Wall's son. So, I decided to give him the name Heavyweight to cement his connection to Featherweight. Plus it fits him to a T, doesn't it? And since he had no character, I went ahead and gave him the struggling single dad archetype. A guy who works multiple jobs, just barely making ends meet to provide as best he can for his son. This only became more appealing when we saw in S7 that he has multiple jobs.
Of course, the question then became... where is the mom? In the description of the original version of that picture, the artist says in their head canon Feathers' mom left them after he was born. The decision to make her be dead instead came from my research into aphasia, the official term for muteness. Because it turns out that, much like gunshot wounds, explosions, and pretty much everything else, the real thing is nothing like how Hollywood shows it. In reality, people with aphasia can talk, they just have trouble communicating. They'll either repeat a sentence over and over, speak in extremely short sentences—ie "walk dog" means "I am going to walk the dog"—or they just speak gibberish. It's usually caused by brain damage that impedes not only speaking, but comprehension and usually motor skills.
I didn't want this because it didn't match what I was seeing on screen. Featherweight understands other ponies just fine, and he show no signs of damaged motor function. So, I had the weird idea of, "What if the mom didn't leave? What if she's dead... and the event that killed her is why Feather's can't speak?" I then came up with the idea of a cart accident (I know, I know, it's a stretch). I also wrote it so Heavyweight was at least partially at fault. That would explain why he is so dedicated to his son, running himself ragged to provide for him. I head canon'd that he was a professional body builder when Feather was born, but once his wife died, he had to have a stable, reliable income. He's in the Wonderbolts Reserve, he works at the spa, and he does competitive body building during the summer. If you want to believe he also runs his snack nut cart, feel free to do so.
Now yes, I know that even with no vocal chords, Featherweight would still be able to laugh, grunt, scream, etc. I made the decision to make it closer to the "Hollywood" version for narrative convenience. I mean... he does burp, so that's something, right? Meh, whatever.
As for the Spider-Man dream... I have no fucking idea where that came from. I think people first made that meme because in Ponyville Confedential Diamond Tiara was acting all J. Jonah Jameson, and since Featherweight was the photographer...
So, I had everything figured out. All the elements were in place, and this was gonna be great...
And then Rainbow Falls aired and Heavyweight was named Bulk Biceps and given the idiot meathead archetype...
And then The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows aired and Featherweight talked...
And then Crusaders of the Lost Mark aired and Diamond Tiara was reformed.
Like I said in the story's description, I acknowledge that this is operating on outdated canon, but honestly... I don't really care. I had an idea I loved, I worked hard over seven fucking years and ended up with a story I was proud of. I mean, stories have little warnings about "This takes place prior to [insert episode]" all the time. I know that's a bit... cheap? Lazy? Meh. Either way, I kept rolling with it, and I'm very pleased with the outcome. And if you don't like it, well...
So... yeah! Those were my thought processes that went into creating this little tale. I truly hope you enjoyed reading it, and who knows? Maybe I'll get struck by random inspiration/motivation and finish one of my other incomplete story ideas? Time shall tell, I guess. Never forget that I fucking love you all. Till next we meet stay safe, stay free, and stay metal! Jake The Army Guy out!
2013 looking a hell of a lot better than what we're getting in 2020. Take me back to that sweet, sweet nostalgia
Adding this to the reading list for tonight!
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Yeah, seven years and nearly a hundred pounds later...
Hope you enjoy it, brother!
I had this character in my first (obscenely long) story who was a mute, mostly because it was a pastiche-style crossover, and the character of which she was was an expy, was also a mute. TBH, she barely shows up in the story, I ended up not using her that much, but the concept of an organization with a secret code windtalkers-style because one of their core members was a mute or deaf-mute or deaf stayed with me. I forget who dropped it on me, exactly, but I think it was Oliver... he thought that ponies would have a sign language that was basically ear-position-based. Like semaphore.
The clever idea showed up too late for me to use it in that story. Shame I'm not likely to ever be able to use it, given my general writing patterns.
I love the process, dude. Like I commented on the story, I took a few ASL classes, and the general hoof gestures you used were basically correct. The idea of using ears also is really cool. Oh, and the name 'Heavyweight' is friggin' perfect.
Y’know What? I like your version better than canon.
It was a pleasure to read
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D'aww, thank you for reading!
To be honest, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are the weakest element in the story overall. The narrative even acknowledges they're going out of their way to be hurtful in a way they normally wouldn't; in the show, they began making fun of Scootaloo's inability to fly because DT (rightly) suspected Scootaloo's pride wouldn't let her perform without flying. They had a specific goal in mind. As far as I know, it was also the only time that came up.
Here, they're just ableist because the story needs an ableist character.
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Yeah, I kinda knew that going in. AGain, when this was first conceptualized, between seasons 3-4, I felt reasonably sure that people would accept DT being a bitch for the sake of being a bitch. But, times and sensibilities change.
When I began working on this again, I was keenly aware of how much had changed over seven years. I know I could have changed things to make it a bit more consistent. Ultimately, I decided to just forge ahead, mainly because I'm a lazy bastard.
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Not like I don't know the feeling. When I started my story, I went with the premise of Scootaloo eventually flying, Spike NOT flying, and the CMC having individual Special Talents.