Do you ever come by things in a fanfic that are minor, and in fact really unimportant to the story as a whole, but that they still kinda annoy you?

I do. Here's a few of them.

1. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders are said to be age 10-12 (and the story is set during the show's timeline, and not in the future). I know its a matter of headcanons, but... the CMC just don't feel like almost-teenagers to me. They feel like little kids. So its hard to wrap my mind around it when someone says they're pre-teens (as opposed to 5-7, which IMO are more credible).

2. I really can't explain this one, but for some reason it irks me when I read a fanfic and it implies that Celestia isn't the absolute authority of Equestria, and that she's held back by political considerations. Again, I don't know why, but... it just feels wrong somehow.

3. I have a lot of hangups involving the use of G1 characters. One of my least favorite cliches is when they make the G1 counterpart the parent of the FIM pony (Firefly being Rainbow Dash's mom for example). I just feel like its more fun if they're not related.

4. The utter lack of cute in a lot of stories, in terms of animal-like behaviors. We need more Pinkie rolling on the grass, Twilight playfully nibbling Rainbow Dash's ear, Applejack pouncing on frogs, etc... Ponies tend to behave too humanly in fanfics sometimes, and they really shouldn't.

Anyway, what about you guys?

995998 please read rule 8 of this forum's posting rules, thank you

Character personality in fic not equal to personality in show. I know there can be good reasons for it...

But still.

webmemes.org(whyyy)

Also....Princess Celestia being depicted as a total badass.
She's not all powerful...She got beaten...once...

...I Just realized how invalid my argument is. Carry on.

996001 Fixed. Thanks for pointing that out.

995998

The utter lack of cute in a lot of stories, in terms of animal-like behaviors. We need more Pinkie rolling on the grass, Twilight playfully nibbling Rainbow Dash's ear, Applejack pouncing on frogs, etc... Ponies tend to behave too humanly in fanfics sometimes, and they really shouldn't.

Seriously! Part of what got me into the show in the first place was the fact that it takes place in this strange alternate world. Even if you were psychologically exactly the same as a human, you'd develop lots of different behaviors and attitudes while growing up, just from the way you had to interact with that world using that body. That foreignness is part of what makes it interesting.

Most of mine are stylistic, though - I'm really turned off by "precocious" phrasing, which can be good if it's witty or original (think of Douglass Adams) but most of the time it's less a case of trying too hard than actually not trying hard enough to come up with a good zinger, and it's like the prose equivalent of bunting. Also - and this is originally a stand up comedy pet peeve but it still works - any first-person narrator who in any way says they are "weird." IF YOU HAVE TO POINT IT OUT, NO YOU ARE NOT

People's headcanon being different from mine doesn't bother me, though - I like seeing something filtered through other people's brains.
Personally I prefer Celestia and Luna being somewhat like the Greek gods, and Nightmare Moon being entirely Luna and not the influence of some emotional parasite, and always viewed Discord as a Q-like trickster instead of actually malevolent, but I don't mind when someone switches that up.

996023 no prob.

The first two points I find myself on exactly the opposite side.

Well, the CMC in my mind are in the 10-12 range. I can't see them as younger than that honestly... And that's how I write 'em.

I also can't imagine that Celestia would be one to have all the power. I imagine she's the type to assign folk to make important decisions in her stead. But this one, I don't mind if they stray from that character at all, so long as it's well thought out and considered.

Usually I don't let head-canons detract me from the reading experience. If the characters and stories are well thought out, then it's great.

995998 I go the opposite way on number 2, honestly. It seems bizarre that Celestia could just rule over Equestria without considering the needs and desires of her subjects. A ruler who tried to do that in the real world (without NK level indoctrination, which is obviously not present in Equestria) would eventually find themselves violently run out of office

996054

The way the ponies worship Celestia is not altogether dissimilar to how North Koreans worship their Glorious Leader.

Remember Gabby Gums? "Celestia Just Like Us!" is headline news. That just states what we already see in the show: the ponies don't consider Celestia to just be another pony like them, she's on a whole different level. Rarity swears by her name, for pete's sake. While I'm not saying portrayals of Celestia should have her ignoring politics entirely, in reality her position is far more like that of old Kim Jong Il than Barack Obama.

995998
Pet peeve? Twilight miscasting magic. She never miscasts magic; there are times where she doesn't think through the consequences of a spell (Swarm of the Century), or the spell simply doesn't work (The Return of Harmony), or the spell grows more powerful than intended (Winter Wrap Up, Lesson Zero), or she can't keep her full concentration on it because she's running flat-out (Dragon Quest), or she misses the intended target (Too Many Pinkie Pies).
But she never fing miscasts a spell. In my WIP 'mirror universe' fic, I'm making it quite clear that something interfered with a remote viewing spell and turned it into a dimensional portal. Because otherwise, grr. GRR.

Ahem. Anyway.

996054
996067
Of course they see her on a different level. She's an immortal demigoddess who raises the sun. Kim Jong Il just gets holes in one a lot, and Barack Obama can only slow the rise of the oceans. They ain't got shit on pony princesses.

996094

Well yeah, that was my point. Stories shouldn't treat her like a human ruler.

996094 Indeed, that's a part of why it irks me when I read a fanfic where Celestia's hooves are tied by political considerations, as if she could ever possibly be voted out of office if they got sick of her. Somepony of that power really shouldn't have to answer to anyone.

(Although, I can see her delegating--she can't be everywhere at once)

995998

I have admittedly not read many MLP based fics (I'm working on it, though! So far I've read bubbles and sweet apple massacre- the latter leaving a rather bitter, disgusted feeling in my body/soul/mental state).
I really didn't find anything I could describe as a pet peeve, however...
I loved the bubbles story to bits...
And I could tell you a plethora of things I hated about SAM...
But even with that story, I couldn't really find anything that I could define as 'irksome'...
I mean, if poorly written stories lacking any kind of taste to them themselves could be considered a 'pet peeve', there would more individual lists of story names that people found to be not very enjoyable to read then you could shake a stick at.

... And there I go rambling on about nonsense again...
Delayed disclaimer:
There was no point to the previous paragraph, ignore it if you want to. ... Even though it's probably too late now...
... Meh.

ANYWAY.
I do have a few pet peeves I found through reading fanfiction that could be addressed in any fanfiction subject, including mlp.

My irks mainly revolve around OCs that are written into an otherwise cannon idea.
It's not that I am against putting OCs in a story, even if said story involves characters from the actual show/book/what have you...
It's just the quality of a larger amount of OCs than I would like to fathom is really... lacking...

When I see a character who is a sister/brother of [insert cannon 1 here] and is deeply in love with [insert cannon 2 here] but is going out with [insert cannon 3 here] and having an intense affair with [insert cannon 4 here] and is secretly pregnant with [insert cannon 5 here] I want to throw a brick at my computer screen in hopes of it magically fazing through my laptop, traveling through cyberspace until it reaches [insert name of unbearable OC's creator here]'s whatever device their using, and smashing them in the head.
And sometimes they decide it would be great to put their like-minded friend's OC in their story, who is going through all of the above, but with even more completely different OCs...
I have to admit, it really made it hard for me to open anything stating that there was any OCs in the story...

I'm working on being a little more open minded about OCs in a fan fiction of an already existing show, novel, etc...
Especially since I would like to make a few stories featuring my own OCs...

...
I guess to sum this whole two page essay about things I hate to read about in fanfictions I will just say;
Do NOT under ANY circumstance make your OC related to a cannon character and if you are going to have your OC in any kind of relationship with a cannon character (platonic or not), make sure to have it happen gradually and be able to explain/give reasons why it is happening. Remember, if you automatically have your OC romantically involved with [insert cannon whatever number I am on here] with no explanation when you are just starting to write your story, you might find yourself being hit by a brick that mysteriously flew out from the screen of whatever electronic device you decided to write your story with.
Just sayin...

996128
I'll borrow an explanation from the story Night's Favored Child: sure, the lower rungs of politics can't vote her out or anything... but they can make things difficult. Politicians, bureaucrats, and (especially) nobility tend to have inflated opinions of their own power and influence, but they do still have power and influence. Hence her adherence to things like greeting ponies at the Grand Galloping Gala. It's a tradition that acts like a bit of WD-40 in the gears of royalty.

Besides, power corrupts, and she's witnessed what could happen if an alicorn goes superpowered and evil. Delegation is also a means of keeping herself in check. Headcanon, of course, but I do so love prying into the chessmaster-y brainthoughts of immortals.

996149

I have a hard time believing anyone can oppose Celestia and remain in power for very long. She's only been doing this for over 1000 years or so and has ponies all but kiss the ground upon which she walks. And as we saw in Lesson Zero, she can appear above you in a blazing light anytime, anywhere...

996030 I think for me the problem is just the CMC are so small and so childishly playful. I remember when I reached twelve I started being less active and playful (and was almost as big as my mom), so its weird for me to look at them and be told "they're twelve."

That's just me though.

996149 I just prefer to believe Celestia is literally above being corrupted. Although to be fair, I tend to not deal with Celestia at all when I write.

.... Another one for the pile... And this probably makes me a heretic, but I actually find the elements of harmony (the jewels, not the ponies) kinda annoying. Especially the fact that one is a dopey-looking crown and not a kewl necklace.

995998

It irks me when Celestia and Luna are portrayed as a goddesses. I never cared for many stories that have truly god-like characters running around. That, along with situations that can be explained away by 'magic', whether is be curing/causing amnesia, summoning a human to Equestria, or curing injury and illness. This is all on the principle that everything should have a concrete cause and effect when it matters, and the show seems to follow this to a certain extent. I don't like when some personal issue or some form of important information be passed around as if it were 'magic', and having god-like characters in the mix makes this more likely to happen. In addition, if a character has the magical ability to do something, when some problem arises, you logically ask why it wasn't magicked away, and that mindset drives me away from a story when I have it. I understand that this a show of magical talking ponies, but you'd be hard pressed to list any time when they let Twilight magic a problem away (Boast Busters was her one free pass there).

Also, and this has gone for a majority of media I consume, I hate weak villains with a passion. By weak, I mean uninteresting, cliche, or stupid. The Joker is a classic example of villain that's good, and I have yet to jump for joy over any MLP villain, be it they're canon or an OC. Villains are why you go and see a super hero movie, not the hero! The hero is always some boring idealist who the audience can relate to; villains are the spice of life! They always drive the work! Why can't I have this, argh!

Sure I do:

1. When Fluttershy has a kitchen
2. When ponies eat meat (like when they all do and nothing's abnormal about it, or when pegasi eat fish)
3. When changelings have no concept of how emotions work. I mean seriously, they live on the stuff, they HAVE to know. They'd be DEAD if they didn't.

995998
1.) I honestly feel that ponies ages are kind of ambiguous. The mane 6 all have JOBS (even if some are hard to tell how they make a living from it) they aren't in school, they have jobs in which they actively contribute services or resources to the rest of the community, and many of them are either in positions of authority in their field, or highly recognized and respected, which means they've been at their jobs for a fair amount of time already, so normally that would put them at over 18, but I can't help but view the main 6 as being 15-19 age range (with rarity likely being the oldest)
I think that in pony society, there is a certain amount of focus on trade and industry, vs general education, which has resulted in ponies "maturing" in terms of responsibility much faster than for humans (which I actually see as a good thing) BUT at the same time there's also a much more prevalent focus on "love and friendship" so on an interpersonal level, ponies will actually act much younger than their age/level of responsibility would normally imply.
2.) I kind of agree with you here. It's obvious from how ponies defer to her that she obviously commands some absolute authority, but I rather like some of the interpretations I've seen where there is basically an entire task force devoted to dealing with Red Tape and Publicity so that Ponies are reassured that Celestia isn't going to just randomly announce War on the Griffons just on a whim, and that "high council" members are convinced that they have SOME sort of control in world events, despite the fact that she can override them ANY time she actually WANTED to. It would just be really REALLY troublesome and usually not worth the headache.
3.) I hate the idea of them being PARENTS to the mane 6, but I love the idea of them being GRANDPARENTS. Pinkie Pie's Granny that sang her the "giggle at the ghostly" song being Surprise Pie? Fluttershy's Grandmother being earth pony Posey, where Fluttershy's earth pony heritage is responsible for why she's a subpar flyer, but so great with animals? Rarity inherited the Carousel from Sparkler, who used it as a summer home, which is why a fashion store is in the middle of nowhere? That I can totally get behind, and actually CANNOT get OUT of my head now.
4.) most of those suggestions are good for foals, but even in the series, older ponies DO tend to act more human. I would love to see those type of activities from CMC aged ponies though. Also, while you're going "why don't they act like ANIMALS?" I'm going "Wait, why do none of your suggestions have them acting like PONIES?" cause ponies are frankly kinda boring too, and it's weird to just write a story where ponies act like cats and this is seen as normal behavior.

996017
The character issues bug me too, but I usually recognize that it's sometimes hard to get a good grasp of the characters in the show, particularly when a writer is trying to get a plot to move a certain direction.

996025
Oh I totally know that feel. I see Discord being outright malicious in many cases, and I'm just left going "whoa, whoa, hoooold on now." Similarly, I hate the idea of Nightmare Moon being a parasite, but I believe it's kind of accepted as canon now because of the comics. I usually resolve this by saying "Yeah, it's a parasite, BUT the parasite only NUDGED, it didn't completely take over her."

996094
I kind of agree about Twilight not ever Miscasting magic unless there is a GOOD explanation, but my headcanon is that any reality altering magic is actually different from standard unicorn magic of telekenisis, energy beams and shields, and light spells. All other examples of unicorn magic are actually related to Discord's abilities and are thus prone to invoke chaotic situations.

996140
Very good points on the OC issue. When I see a scenerio populated with OCs and any of them could have easily been replaced with canon characters and still worked just fine. I can't help but think "Why are you even writing FAN fiction?! Just write your own story already!"

996172
I don't like the idea of Celestia and Luna being creation level gods, but I do enjoy the idea that they are effectively greek level gods, essentially just really super powerful, potentially infinite lifespan, but still capable of being killed, and not omnipotent to any extent, they just sometimes seem that way due to their abnormal level of life experience.
however with that, I don't like the idea that Celestia and Luna were part of some flourishing race that controlled all sorts of different aspects of the world and they just happen to be the only 2 left.

995998
1. Yeah, twelve definitely seems to old. But ten? Maybe! They certainly seem too childish to be on the cusp of teenagehood. But they're pretty cunning sometimes, and very occasionally mature. Having a five year old in my life tells me that they certainly aren't that age, unless the CMC are all intellectual prodigies. The CMC are far too sophisticated in their thinking to be five. Their rambunctiousness just makes them seem a bit younger than they probably are, at times.

2. Much agreement. Sort of. I don't mind Celestia herself having instituted a few checks and balances to give her ponies a say in their own government. It seems sorta like something she'd do. I think Equestria would be a far crappier place if said governing body could actually dictate stuff to Celestia though, so I'm liable to think that if there is a Parliament or House of Lords(or Ladies, most likely) it can likely more or less be vetoed by Celestia whenever she wants.

3. Not really a fan of previous generations to begin with. Some dusty, ancient pony dolls in a closet somewhere tell me that I was a fan in my youth, but be damned if I can remember. However, what I do know of the previous generations tells me that it's so very, very different from the current one. So short of Pony POV level pony apocalypses, I have trouble meshing them into the same world, nevermind them being direct relatives.

4. More or less total agreement, albeit for different reasons. I know you like your pony adorability, and that's your primary concern. For moi, I just think it's more interesting and thoughtful if the ponies actually have some equine mannerisms and such. Mind, I try not to make them cats or dogs though. I wouldn't really have them pouncing on frogs, unless they were foals at play.

996149
Agreement on Twi miscasting. It's an entirely fanon creation. Mostly to justify the ol' teleportation mishap plot.

As for what annoys me?
I mean, bad writing aside.

I dislike Pinkie Pie utterly demolishing the fourth wall at all times. Used in moderation, or for the occasional meta joke, fine. Constant pop culture references, or talking to the narrator/reader? Bleh.

Also, I'm not a fan of the Lyra that apparently wanders Ponyville, popping in to mutter about humans, or hands. When it's part of the plot, or is otherwise relevant, okay! Always a fan of perpetuating a consistent fanon version of background ponies. When she just pops in so the author can go 'LOL. Lyra wants to be human.' I want to bang my head against the nearest flat surface.

995998
With Celestia being held back by political considerations, you do have to realize that, while she is the ultimate authority in Equestria, the world is made up of more than just Equestria. There's the Crystal Empire, the Griffon states (whatever those are) and Saddle Arabia, at least.

1. It is important to remember the CMC are the age they need to be in order to make whatever story you are working on work. Would you cut loose a bunch of 8 year olds with power tools to make a parade float? I hope not. I've used them extensively in both "Monster in the Twilight" and "Traveling Tutor and the Librarian", and they get treated a little different in each according to the rule of Plot.
2. Celestia rules, she does not dominate. She wants a world dominated by Harmony, not Violence, therefore even most fics that portray her as a mighty goddess with immense powers have her operating within a number of limits. The less brute force she uses, the more intricate the plot can be.
3. No opinion.
4. Well, yes, but remember these are ponies who drink out of teacups, push clouds around, live in houses, etc...

996484 There is something that complicates the CMC age argument. That's culture.

Like, in Japan its not unusual to think of, say, a two-year-old learning proper form and being raised to be a professional Go player (like in Hikaru no Go), or a four-year-old studying advanced subjects (like Gohan at the beginning of Dragonball Z). But then, they have a harsher culture where fast development is encouraged. In America, someone as mature as Akira Touya was at age five is more along the lines of what we would expect from a ten-year-old.

Since Ponyville is an old-time country setting, I tend to imagine their standards edge towards the harsh (this actually doesn't at all diminish how generally fun it is--people in harsh environments tend to also appreciate life more), which is why I edge towards the CMC being six or so.

1011908
You might be able to cram more information and a stricter set of social standards into a kid's head than we're used to in a western society. But, that doesn't really equate to maturity or intellect, of the sort that I'm talking about.

A five year old has no particular realistic sense of consequence. No great idea of morality. No elaborate ability to plan. Pretty limited emotional awareness. They're only starting to get out of the total self-oriented view of extreme youth.

The CMC are just too 'High Concept' in their way of thinking to be that young. They're cunning, manipulative buggers. They keenly understand right and wrong, even on complex topics like bullying, where they were victimized. They get why friendship is important on the upper levels. In other words, they have a great, big, juicy complex brain, capable of esoteric, abstract thinking. Heck, the song from their talent show itself shows some good emotional awareness (and a great vocabulary, too).