Signal Boost: Lower Class · 2:10am January 7th
Horizon has graced us with a Not-A-Contest fic!
Which I'm sure y'all have noticed, 'cause it's up there in the feature box.
One of the themes of the Not-A-Contest is what kind of jobs would ponies be good at or interested in, and by and large that turns out to be human jobs with a pony twist. Like window washers, for example: much easier for a pegasus who doesn't need a safety harness or some kind of repelling mechanism.
But there are also jobs that don't exist on Earth which a pony—or a pony adjacent species—could do, and this story explores one of these.
It's a complicated story, with plenty of layers and a lot more going on than you'd first expect, and I don't want to spoil too much in it. I will say that one of the 'job opportunities' that Brittle Horn/Juanita Ibanez mentions is one that I've considered for a fic quite some years ago, and another 'job opportunity' is one that is very obvious in hindsight.
Most of y'all also know that in Silver Glow's Journal (and some other pegasus fics of mine) the rules and regulations for pegasus flight were important plot elements. Horizon has considered what Earth might require for changelings to be allowed on Earth, a way to make a positive ID so you know that you're talking to the changeling that you think you're talking to.
I'd also be remiss to not mention that there's a Futurama reference in it. Also, I learned a new word!
Thank you for the signal boost and review! The painful writing process aside, it was fun to stretch my brain in a ponies-on-Earth direction.
My stories frequently do toe the line of (over-)complication, but one of the nice side effects of that process is that I try to overthink the details so I can include little tidbits like the thaumic scans and the not-currently-existing jobs.
Out of curiosity, what's the Futurama reference? I haven't watched it much, so whatever I added in that direction probably snuck in through cultural osmosis when I absorbed a meme secondhand.
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It's always fun to stretch your brain in a ponies-on-Earth direction
The little details sometimes are what makes the story!
Oh, that was The Scary Door. It was a nod to The Twilight Zone, although much more humorous and weird. Here's a mashup of the intros (and William Shatner at the end):