It's tired, I'm late, I'll do this later.
Well, I can't exactly say things have ever been 'normal' here in Ponyville, but it got just a little bit weirder after he showed up. 'Who?' Oh, the Blacksmith. Showed up in town a while back, and things ain't quite been the same since. Bit of a trouble magnet that one, but he don't seem to let it bother him none, so it can't be that big a deal.
A collection of short stories involving an old cartoon character of mine, Parody, and probably a few others as the story goes along.
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Looking good. Nothing like having a mare tap dance on your ribs in the morning.
Diamond dog hierarchy. I wonder what rank he is? Beta? Heh.
Sounds very RD. I can only imagine the look of everypony when he blurted out that line to retort RD about the armor.
More, good Author. I needs another round.
9350219
Well, if nothing else, it certainly wakes you up. (Amusingly, "You tap-danced on my torso!" was a line in the first draft that I ended up cutting.)
I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Which cartoon is he from?
Is parody gonna date berry if so I approve
9409279
He isn't from any official cartoon. Fimfiction is actually the first time I've gone public with Parody.
I quite like this. Can't wait for more.
Oh good Lord that bit with the hand gave me phantom pain
I am enjoying this so much, because unlike normal human in equestria stories this one takes a human and has them not really meld with the pony society both emotional and personality wise and I like how instead of telling or explaining that fact it instead shows it in such a unique way. Also I really like how the characters interact with him, its not awkward or out of place it all fits with how the characters are and how they would react to the situation
9460586
Trust me, you are not alone in that.
9460825
This comment made my day. I don't think I've stopped smiling yet.
You've pretty much nailed everything I'm going for with this story, and I especially appreciate you comments on character interactions and how I convey information. I strive to create believable character interaction and dialogue, to the point where it can seriously slow down my writing (can't exactly skip a line or two of dialogue and come back to it later). And it's important to try to get right because how these characters interact with one another is the primary means of conveying information. The goal of this story is to introduce Parody and allow everyone a chance to get to know this character, and rather than write a big old biography full of nothing but paragraphs of exposition, I feel that this is the best way to do so.
Anyways, I'm really glad you're enjoying the story, and I hope that I can continue to entertain.
Honestly, this is one of the better human in Equestria stories I've seen.
He's not friends with the mane six, he's not well liked, he's not Mary Sue with how awesome he is, he's just a normal ass in pony land living his life and having fun
The non cartoon self of parody reminds me of Matthew Mercer
Well, I can guess why they are short on clouds.
It starts with R and rhymes with Cranberry Crash
9465532
or even better Egoraptor
9471969
I actually used several parts of the Animate-A-Grump episode as reference for what that hairstyle looks like.
Oh I know that feeling time turner
9471949
Raspberry Bash? What does he have to do with clouds? He's an earth pony!
9471949
9472708
Well, you two have gone and triggered my muse. Now I've gotta add another scene to the next chapter.
Good grief. A sane version of John Doe from Se7en.
Nice of rainbow to find the thieves
I like this switch in tone very much.
9463404
And as far as talents go, metal working isn't that hard of a craft to learn. Maybe the technicals are a bit harder but the process is fairly simple.
Huh, I genuinely didn't expect this to be such a delight to read, but sure enough I got caught up and now have a new favorite on my list. The banter is fun, the grammar is spot on from what I've seen, you do a wonderful job with pacing and showing instead of telling. The only complaint I have is that some of the ponies just seem too... spiteful, for lack of a better term. Considering how quickly he was forgiven for what he did to Pinkie and the way he almost immediately decided to be productive by setting up a shop in town, I'm surprised by the almost hatred some of them have for him. I feel like you're slowly going too far over the edge when it comes to suspension of disbelief in regards to how they treat him.
9511817
Thanks for the feedback.
I'll be honest, "The ponies are too mean" wasn't something I was expecting, but looking back, I can see where that's coming from. I'm gonna go ahead and modify a bit of the next chapter, throw in some extra dialogue and see if I can clarify a few things. So, thanks for pointing that out. My "pre-readers" (if that even applies) are all familiar with Parody and his story, so it's easy for stuff like that to fly over our heads.
Anyways, I'm glad you are enjoying the story.
9509292
It's hard on your everything though...
Edit: meant to include this, I am in a metalworking class.
9514787
I mean sure
9514787
Can confirm. Was not cut out for the job.
Parody do you have super healing powers?
Like the story, like parody, like the darker undertones. All of the likes.
I just found and listened to this today, and i basically just ran a chapter marathon pretty much all day.
Fun story that doesn't take itself too seriously, but without being ridiculous.
Points also rewarded for not writing the MC as an unlikable jackass with no redeeming qualities. Far too many Authors cross that line.
So well done and I look forward to hearing more
The Monk
"Knowledge is power and power corrupts, so study and be evil." - Reykan
I freaking loved this chapter, for the reasons everyone else has already said. One bit of feedback though.
This line was halarious, but I think it should be cut in half like so:
Leave it up to the imagination.
9557837
You're right, that does sound better. I'll go change it real quick.
Thanks for the feedback.
Can't believe I didn't get around to reading this chapter until now.
So, I figured from the start that Parody had some sort of healing power, and it looks like this confirmed it. As always it was a delight to read and as with the other chapters it was very well written, so congrats to both you and your pre-readers.
That said, the characterization is getting... really off. Especially regarding how quick the ponies are when it comes to violence. This whole feud with Rainbow has left her completely OOC to an enormous degree. The part with her doing light pranks such as the rain cloud and that sort of thing? That fits perfectly. Straight up coming to blows and what I can only call attempted murder? Scootaloo's mom stabbing him?
I think the problem is that the tone of the story has reached the point of inconsistency. It keeps switching between slapstick and a more realistic feel. Parody just randomly burned Scootaloo with the most idiotic justification (I get he has super healing powers, but he must realize that ponies don't, so him shrugging off being burned by molten metal doesn't mean ponies can), and honestly it's getting frustrated to read. The only conflict in this story so far feels indescribably forced and only seems to exist due to characters' holding idiot balls.
Personally, I miss how the story was the first several chapters with his interactions with Berry Punch. The tone was consistent, the characterization was good aside from a slight feeling of too much hostility, the feud based on the misunderstanding was still in character with Rainbow getting back with petty yet in the end harmless actions like using the raincloud on him, and Parody seemed self aware enough to realize that his abilities didn't extend to others. These last few chapters just seem to be getting worse when it comes to tone, characterization, and suspension-of-disbelief. And, again, it just leaves me wondering when we can return to the style of the earlier chapters.
Sorry if this seemed a tad harsh, but I'm really interested in this story and the character and so I want to share all my thoughts on how it's going so far. Still, I apologize if I went too far anywhere.
9609391
Hey, harsh is fine. I can’t get better if I don’t know what I did wrong. And I’m glad you’re still reading even with this story’s flaws.
If I may… expound for a bit, try to work through this in a combination of clarification and talking about what I’m doing to fix it.
Let’s start with one of the big ones: Inconsistent tone and the pendulum swing of realistic and slapstick.
There are a couple reasons this is happening. Much as I love using the character, this is sort of a fundamental issue with Parody. Over time, I have created a lot of different characters, typically divided into two categories: Cartoon characters (more flat characters defined by their quirks, intended for little shorts drawn on the side of my homework), and story characters (more complex characters with emotional arcs and in-depth stories and all that jazz). Parody, at his core, is a cartoon character, but one that I’ve been shaping into a story character for a number of years now. While I like to think I’ve crafted an interesting narrative with him, I’m realizing that until all that information gets presented, there’s a pretty jarring tone inconsistency caused by his cartoon origins.
Sorry about that. I hope you’re willing to stick with it until a proper explanation is presented.
The other reason for the tone inconsistency has to do with how this story was created. Since around 2016, I’ve been creating these little scenes and shorts in my head, and I’m finally writing them all down; cherry picking different bits to craft little narratives and then building around them. Looking at Brown for an example, that was conceptualized as just the “why is your hair red?” scene. Set Fire to the Rain was the first of a series of gags I came up with where x pony goes over to Parody’s house for y reason only to find that z weird thing is happening.
It’s all just little shorts that I’m trying to put together in some form of an order, and I’m wondering if I’ve put some of them in the wrong order, if I should have waited on some of them.
Tales of the Ponyville Blacksmith was supposed to be a series of short stories, all independent from each other. Not really interconnected, and with only a vague sense of a timeline. Just a silly story of life in Ponyville with Parody around, with no actual over-arching conflict between chapters.
Which brings up the next issue.
The over-arching conflict between Parody and Rainbow Dash.
And, well….
That wasn’t supposed to be there. (and that’s probably kinda noticeable.)
The petty standoffishness between the two was supposed to be a background detail. It was never supposed to take center stage. But, as the story grew far more interconnected than I ever planned, that little background detail became more and more important until it became the extended conflict of a story that wasn’t supposed to have one. Now that it’s there, though, I’ve tried to work with it. Whether or not I’ve succeeded, I’ve tried to give it an arc. In the earlier chapters, you learn about the conflict; In Set Fire to the Rain, Rainbow Dash firmly believes she is not at fault for any of it; In Catapult Fiasco she learns that she isn’t as blameless as she thought. In the next chapter, Capes, I bring this Rainbow Dash arc to a close, with Dash (though she doesn’t fully understand it) learning what specifically made Parody so mad at the time, as well as some hints as to why the conflict lasted as long as it did. After that, the petty standoffishness will still be there, but it will return to the background where it was supposed to be, go back to how it was in Wake-Up Call and A Thousand Years.
I realize that I mishandled some things regarding this conflict, So I’ll clarify a bit here now, and then once I’m done with Capes, I’ll go back and rewrite some parts of earlier chapters to correct some of the misinformation I’ve presented:
Despite how I may have made it seem, Dash and Parody only got into serious fights maybe three times, all them happening during the first week after the initial armor incident, with the last fight being the one where she broke his arm (which was an accident; more on that in Capes). Since then, it’s been mostly the petty stuff like in Wake-Up Call; the most aggressive it ever really got was maybe a quick bop to the head or dumping coffee or something before walking away.
I hope I’ll be able to properly fix that.
As for some of the smaller stuff:
I know Parody’s excuse wasn’t great, that’s why Sweetie Belle called him out on it.
As for Scootaloo’s mom stabbing him? Admittedly, that was just a reference to an old school Halo 3 Machinima: Gears of Halo Theft Auto 5.
That was pretty much the only reason I did that. Sorry if the joke ended up falling flat. For what it’s worth, that will have story relevance at some point in the future, so it’s not entirely without consequence.
Jeeze, this ended up really long. Sorry about that.
Anyways, thanks for the feedback. I’m glad you’re still enjoying this, and I’m glad you’re willing to speak your mind. Harsh it may be, but I really do appreciate it.
Oh, and don’t worry; after Capes, I’ll be returning with some slower chapters, more like the first few, with the chapter after Capes being Parody’s promised school visit.
9611608
Wow, thank you for that incredibly in-depth response. It really helped me understand more where you were coming from for sure!
Regarding Parody, I actually like the concept of a cartoon character becoming more of an actual character beyond simple slapstick, and trying to come to terms with the idea that not everything in life conforms to cartoon physics and slapstick humor, such as the idea that hurting someone actually has consequences (seeing as it doesn't for him, as he just heals thanks to cartoon logic). So yeah, that's a concept I utterly love and one of the reasons this story is becoming more fascinating to me. My problem was that the other characters seemed to be going towards slapstick as well (the lady stabbing him, Rainbow breaking his leg, him being hit through the wall, etc) which sort of weakens the idea that he's not in his usual world now. If that makes sense.
As for the other stuff, I'll admit I could kind of tell when I came across the parts that weren't actually fully intended to happen. And yeah, I suppose that's the issue with including references to more violent things like the machinima bit; if you don't get the reference, then it just comes across as a huge escalation of violence out of nowhere.
Anyway, you better believe I'll be sticking around to see where things go! I might whine and nitpick, but make no mistake this story and these characters leave me smiling and waiting for future updates! You are a very talented writer, Parodyman (and wow I can't believe I'm so unobservant, as it only hit me just now that you're named after your character), and I dearly hope you go far and have fun writing your stories.
With that out of the way, I do have a couple unrelated questions. First, what does the 64 represent with your character? Is it a reference to something that I'm just not getting? And second, seeing as this guy is part of a cartoon you came up with, I was curious if you had a website or pictures or anything (either official or just doodles or anything like that). I'd honestly love to see more of this character and whatever world he's from.
9611744
Where’d the 64 come from? Funny, I’ve actually asked myself that several times. I think it’s in reference to the Nintendo 64, but I’m not sure. Been a long time since I started using that name. I’m pretty sure Minecraft it the first time I used it. Either way, it doesn’t really have any story significance that I can remember.
At the moment, I don’t really have much art and stuff out. I have a deviantart, but it’s pretty barren at the moment. I do plan on fixing that. I have notebooks full of old sketches and doodles that I can either upload pictures of or re-draw. Looking at the foot of my bed, there’s like 20 different composition notebooks that have doodles spread throughout, so I’ve got some material to work with.
All this talk of old comics reminded me of something, and you might find this funny:
I’ve gone through several different cartoon/comic series growing up, and the one before Parody was the ANC, the Altered Name Crew, where I took my friends names, switched up or changed some of the letters, and made characters based on the new names, getting characters like Cyber the tech guy, or Vankey the Viking. In an old math workbook, I remember drawing Vankey laughing at my older cartoons; Dust Bunny, The Idiot Who Never Dies, and Mutant Pineapples, and mocking them for being abandoned and left behind. I write in “Are you sure you should be making fun of them?” to which he replied “I’ll be fine, you’ll never replace me.”
Within a year the ANC comic was replaced by Parody’s.
9611872
Honestly, I'd love seeing some of your drawings and sketches if it wouldn't be too much of a hassle getting some pictures of them in the notebooks. I've always had a love of that sort of thing; seeing the brainstorming and sketching and the like that goes into a setting and character and that sort of thing. Again though, only if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you!
Haha that's just wonderful, and you were certainly right that I found it funny. That's the sort of meta-humor I can get behind easily, and I have to say I got a laugh out of those names; Dust Bunny and The Idiot Who Never Dies sound interesting.
Huh, all of this actually reminds me of a time I did a little stuff with comic related things. It was so long ago that I barely remember any of it, though. Sounds like you've been doing this sort of thing for quite a while!
9611931
Yeah, I’ll see about posting some of the old sketches. Maybe make a sketch dump folder. Man, it’s gonna be weird looking through those and seeing all the different drawing styles I went through. And the mess that was trying to figure out what the heck the different characters’ hairstyles looked like on a more realistic head (I only recently figured that out, and I’m still not entirely sure).
I figure you’ll appreciate this: https://www.deviantart.com/parodyman64/gallery/?catpath=scraps (Doing a link since I haven't figured out collapsible images yet)
If I’m correct, these are the first pictures I ever drew of Parody; his original design, him pranking Nureth, Nemryka, and Vankey, as well as few re-draws from a few years later.
Honestly, I’m getting a little bit sentimental.
My best friend from kindergarten was the one who got me drawing cartoons. Our first comic together was Mutant Pineapples, and our last before he moved away in 2nd grade was Dust Bunny, so those two mean a lot to me. That’s where all of this started, and I don’t think I’d be where I am now if it weren’t for that friend.
I got thinking about it not too long ago, and I’ve been debating putting them in Tales of the Ponyville Blacksmith somewhere, as an homage to my beginnings as an artist and storyteller, as well as my friend. Maybe have a chapter where Parody runs into them and has a brief emotional connection as he recognizes them, and then give them to Dinky as pets. Have them show up every now and again in the background.
9612161
I bet, and yes those were pretty great! I liked the additional touch of redrawing the character and having him point out how much has changed in the style. What's actually really interesting to me is that, despite all that changed in the style, you can still see the bits that stayed the same despite all the changes. I can see where all of this would leave you feeling a bit sentimental!
That's just beyond endearing that one of your earliest friends got you into drawing. Again, I wish I could remember how young I was, but all I can guess is that I was probably younger than 10 or something like that. I wonder whatever happened to those little comic strips I drew...
Well, I certainly wouldn't complain about that addition to the story if you do decide to go that route! Besides, having him do a bit of reminiscing while having that brief connection would be a pretty endearing moment of character development.
When parody goes full swag
You asked what plot points I picked up on? I'll just dump everything I think I know about Parody.
I think that Parody isn't human, what he is I aren't sure on. But clearly his neck is his weak spot.
I think Parody has a second person living in his head, not a second voice of himself like with multiple personality disorder, but a completely different person.
And, as you heavily implied in your chapters, Parody did not have a very sunny past, but I think he did have some good friends. But, in coming to Equestria he lost them.
I hope I wasn't completely off on my theories and that I didn't miss something completely obvious, but this was the best I could think of at 1 AM.
Great story, and I am eager to see what comes next!
If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?
9652854
9652925
You know, I’ve never really put much thought into that. Being the ‘me’ character of that comic, I’ve always just imagined that he sounded like me (which doesn’t help, I realize). If I had to describe his voice, I’d say he has a Western American accent (which according to the test I took, basically means no accent), but with a very slight British lilt on some of his words (because that ends up happening whenever I enunciate his lines out loud, for some reason).
If you want a super rough idea of his/my voice, I’m in the video I linked back in the third chapter, Brown, so that might help. Just, keep in mind that the video is 5 years old, and I was using a potato mic.
Maybe if I have the time, at some point I’ll record some lines with a better mic; give a better idea of his voice.
9652891
I’m really having to restrain myself. I want to just talk about all these details so badly, but I really should just write the story and let it unfold.
That being said, for the plot points that you’ve brought up, your theories are really close. Almost spot on for a couple of them.
And don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything obvious. All the other plot points that have been hinted at have been hinted at in ways that would probably be best described as “stupidly subtle,” and “how was I supposed to notice that?”
Those will become more apparent as the story progresses and they become relevant.
Anyway, I’m glad you’re enjoying the story, and I hope I can continue to entertain.
(Oh, and you brought up the relevant plot point, so it looks like hair braiding is a go.)
9655391
Feel free to use that should you wish
Okay, I love Rainbow's new cape, even if it was a nightmare that caused her to go to Rarity (also great characterization of Rarity for immediately noticing Rainbow's discomfort and helping her).
I feel like he comes from a world that runs on slapstick cartoon logic to a huge degree (Looney Tunes and the like), and that's why he gets so incredulous when AJ tells him what he's doing hurts them. From his point of view, he's got the same relationship with Rainbow that Bugs does with Daffy in that they regularly inflict grievous harm on each other, but it's all in good fun because there are no consequences. It's all played for laughs. It's not like Bugs hates Daffy and that's why they 'fight'. But it's not like that in MLP. Sure it's a cartoon, but the logic isn't nearly as slapstick as other shows, so to AJ it must seem like Parody absolutely hates Rainbow and that's why he torments her all the time.
I also feel like this chapter came very close to them finally realizing that disconnect (when AJ got upset when he told her it's not like there were any consequences), and I'm really looking forward to when that finally happens, and he realizes that this world doesn't run like his, and the ponies realize he doesn't actually mean anything bad by what he does.
Glad this continued.
Those unexpected feels between Parody and that forest scene... I liked the dream sequence as well. I'd say more but so much would be spoilers.
I hope to see more of this RD arc, and Berry. Cute stuff all around.
Cringed at the catapult stuff but some lessons... yeah, some lessons just need to be experienced.
9500803
When did she find a mirror?
9674808
You know she looks in one often just to see how awesome she is
I prefer the first one, it looks less likely to eat my first born son
So here I am, reading this at the ungodly hour of 2 am, and I hear this 'The one throwaway line to rule them all.' thing, so now I have to get out the ol' notebook and see if I can make something half believable that will get disproven by the next chapter. Damn you once for making me so curious, and damn you twice for making your story so good I don't mind rereading it. Truly evil, going around writing good stories. Who would do such a thing?