I like power.

I like magic and stuff that enables 'power'.

Power in the sense of harnessing energy to do various things, otherwise impossible.

But what I really like is looking at magic, or power in stories and figuring out what they're based on. I.e how they "work".

It's way too simple and uninteresting to me when authors just go "it's magic, I aint gotta explain SHIT!".

It's no secret one of my favorite stories on Fimfiction is The Moonstone Cup by Cyanide

I had a small talk with Cyanide the other day in the chatroom, discussing something we both find interesting: how the magic of FiM would interact or 'work' using earth physics.

Even if it's sometimes a ridiculous notion that normal regular physics and gravity apply (RD's sonic rainboom would have squashed her body).

That said I came up with a good example of how magic seen in the show could be applied to cause massive mayhem:

Consider two things:

Twilight has changed the mass of objects using transformation magic more than once. Two examples would  be

- Changing mice into Horses

- Changing rocks into clothes for Spike

Secondly, we've seen that unicorn magic can "launch" objects at high speed:

- Rarity used this in the sleepover episodes on pillows.

Now combining the two...

Imagine twilight launching a small rock, like a sandcorn at very high speeds - this is possible because a sandcorn has a very small surface and mass.

Then momentarily after the launch, she'd transform it HUGE. The transformation would not cause it to speed down, making the rock one hell of a dangerous object going at massive speeds.

It would basically make any unicorn with good enough control a walking Gaussgun, only way more effective.

And that's just one example of how magic could be used for destruction.

What if, for example, a unicorn could accelerate said sandcorn, while at the same time causing a vacuum in the 'starting' area - making it go even faster?

and so on, I like to think about such things :)

When you submit your story to the site it will be failed if you do not add a synopsis in the description.

So, what is a synopsis?

Let's ask Dictionary.com!

Synopsis:

3. a brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play, etc.

This is a synopsis:

Twilight goes for a walk in the Whitetail Woods and encounters a mysterious creature.

This is not:

This is my first fanfiction ever and I love FS/AJ so please read and rate!

All that is telling the reader is that the story is shipping.

But "shipping" does not a story warrant.

If you cannot add a synopsis of your story to the description, it will be failed.

I'm not supposed to showcase the bad, but I don't really care right now..

This

is a perfect example of a fic that lacks all of the following:

- Grammar

- Punctuation

- Paragraphing

- Typography (capital letters all over)

with added in annoying author-to-reader announcements like (ready for the climax?)

Ugh.

Submit your story only when you've actually included the ponies or involved Equestria in some way.

Otherwise we will fail it for breaking rules.

Way too many fics have been failed for this already.

From the rules:

Your story MUST be related to Friendship is Magic BEFORE you submit it to the site! If it will be related 'later,' then make it 'later' before you submit!

I'd like to try and get a discussion going on the "Dark" category.

A description for it is found in the FAQ:

Dark: A story which includes "dark" themes. This can include light horror, or more graphic depictions of things like violence and rape.

EXAMPLES: Batman is a good example of a "light" Dark universe, whereas the fanfiction Cupcakes is a good example of a "dark" Dark story.

And that is basically how I view it as well.

But we all know categories are usually viewed very differently from person to person.

So, the question up for discussion is how you, users, see it and use it.

- What do you, as a reader, expect from a fic that has a "Dark" category added?

- If you're an author, what kind of stories would you categorize as "Dark"

And, as I've seen submissions that has the "Dark" tag and yet are rated "everyone"...

Do you think that makes sense, if so, how?

P.S: This is not because I want to change anything on the site.

I just think it would be an interesting topic to discuss.