"Characters are not created by writers. They pre-exist and they have to be found." --Elizabeth Bowen · 8:26pm Mar 3rd, 2014
This is the story the old dogsledding guide told about a friend of his.
He said, "Yeah, he lives on a farm up on Black Cap Mountain, and you know how some people, they look like their dogs? Well this guy keeps horses. Big Belgian draft horses, and he looks just like one of 'em! I mean, the guy's huge, not fat, just really tall. And brawny--he's got a neck that's like, bigger around than his head! That's cause he was a linebacker in college. And you know what he majored in? English Literature!"
"I usedta ask him, what did you find to talk about in the locker room, you know, with the other guys? And he'd just say 'Well, it was a little difficult sometimes.'
"And he's such a gentle guy! And a giant!"
I didn't ask whether the farm grew apples. That would have been tipping my hand.
Big Mac has majored in Equestrian Literature. This is now a fact. It's not head-canon. It's canon. I will hear no word said against it.
Also: Glad you are back!
1892974
Thanks. It's currently 21 degrees and snowing outside. Mildest weather I've been in all week.
There's a line about Big Mac from Keeping it Simple by Ivory Piano. Applejack says something along the lines of, "He usedta read all kinds of books and have lots of friends..." But then their parents died and he had to give that all up . To work. So they wouldn't lose the farm.
I can imagine a scene years in the future, after Mac's funeral. Applejack shows up at the library with a big cardboard box, and her and Twilight go through all these old science fair prizes, Honor Roll certificates, report cards, book reports and clippings from the Ponyville papers ("School Debate Club Plans Canterlot Field Trip")...all of them Mac's.
And Twilight saying "I wish I'd known..."
1893055
You spend too much time with Bad Horse, sir. Altogether too much. How about a story that's happy? Like, say, Twilight finds out, but the way in which she does so makes her uneasy—magic? bureaucracy[1]?—and so she's torn between saying something and not saying something. You can have her engage in a lengthy process of trying to draw him out without tipping her
handhoof. During this, hilarity can ensue. Later, kisses.[1] "Long story short, Your Highness, while you were the element of magic you, and your friends, were classified as, technically, military bases. This gave us the right to treat Ponyvillle as an Exclusionary Zone, as per the Defense of the Realm Act of 903. That meant we cou—"
"I was a military base?"
"A legal fiction, Your Highness. Though questions were asked as to what, if anything, stationing troops 'in' you would mean."
"I—uh—what??"
"Yes. I daresay that's the effect Her Majesty was going for when she asked to draft that legal opinion. I can forward you the memo?"
"Please don't!"
"Wise choice, Your Highness. Anyway, you being military bases gave us exceptional data gathering rights. As a result everyone in Ponyville has a class I file."
"Class I?"
"I have detailed logs of their diets. Favorite brands of snack food. Favorite colors. Everything. Normally only ponies of interest and high-echelon officials get Class I files. It's illegal otherwise. Except in case of mobile equineform military bases. Obviously."
"Diets?"
"A change in nutrition can be a sign of changeling infiltration. We nearly arrested Mr. Cake when he went on a diet, actually. Bit of an embarrassment that."
"Don't you think this is a case of government overreach?"
"Oh, Celestia preserve me! No, no, the government had nothing to do with this. No, no, purely a Service matter through the fifth directorate of the Lunar Council."
"I see. That makes it all better, doesn't it?"
"Well of course."
...sorry. Got carried away.
1893115
"Hey--does that make me the Flying Fortress?"
1893126
I am now considering what that makes the rest of the elements. Especially Fluttershy.
1893126
1893251
"I uh. I have the list of codenames we used. They are—I didn't pick them so they are a bit... jocular."
"Hoof them over."
"That might not—"
"Now."
And, yes, I have the coding system researched already. Except I guess the official standards don't say to make 'em all obscure puns.
1893275
Not sure if Eldritch Lacemaker or Gotterdammerung Unity is funnier.
1893275
"GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG UNITY BLUE? It makes me sound like...like one of those manega comics!"
"Hey yeah! All dressed up in a suit of power armor, fighting Changelings with rayguns and giant swords..."
"Wait, if I've got a raygun why would I need a giant sword?"
"Because...because swords, Twi! Giant glowing power swords that go schvoom--schvoom--hmmmmmmmm---schvoom!..."
"Oh that's just ridi..."
"And then after a hard day of fighting bugs you'd climb out of the cockpit in this skintight flight suit..."
"Okay Dash, that's enough."
"...just sweaty enough to, y'know, give the fancolts a little thrill..."
"LA-LA-LA I CAN'T HEAAAAAR YOOOOUUUUU..."
1893678
Couldn't help myself. Götterdämmerung. Twilight of the Gods. That's just too perfect not to use.
Though I though that PRISMATIC VELOCITY BLACK was more anime/manga-y, honestly.
And, your scene[1] was perfect. You need to write. Need to.
[1] I can just imagine the scene ending with Dash flashing a big, big grin and Applejack going something like "You seem to have gotten to Twi in a skintight suit mighty fast there, RD. Like ya've been givin' it serious thought. Something you wanna tell us?"
"Shut up!"
"Not that there's anything wrong with it, o'course. It's even cute, what with you two."
"Shut up!"
"All those flyin' lessons. Hooves on instruction 'n' all. And a bit of, what did you say, a bit of sweat? Hard work, flying, I'm sure."
"Shut up!"
"Why, Rainbow, darling, you appear to be blushing."
"Shut up!"
"I STILL CAN'T HEAR ANY OF YOU!"
Also... heh.
1893678 => TAOIST SUPREMACY WHITE
1893322 => SEAWARD KNIGHT GREEN
1893275 => HELLENIC SPECTER INDIGO
1893755
I love it, though I must confess jealousy of our dear Jedi's title.
NOW BAD HORSE. AND SKYWRITER. KOBALSTROMA.
Oh, and
1893678 ?
Ghost not be more correct. WRITE. DO IT. OR FACE MY CAPS LOCK.
1893755
Inb4 AppleDashLight.
1893755
"Swords...s-swords..."
"Well as to the power armor thing, I don't know but that a girl could make it work..."
"RARITY!"
"Oh, ah, yes, purely speculative, dear, just, you know...runway aesthetics..."
th07.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2014/021/c/d/exo_rarity_by_vombavr-d734hhl.jpg
1893937
1893816
MALIGNANT SPRINGER BLACK
CELESTIAL SCRIBE GOLD
BATTLESTAR BED WHITE
1892974
Was it just a minor in Fancy Mathematics, then?
Or if you minor in it, can you only get Mathematics With Modest, Tasteful Froufrous?
1893275
"What about Luna?"
"APPREHENSION PLAID"
"Plaid?"
"Yeah. Captain Armor vetoed 'Hawaiian Print' and 'Chartreuse'. Too many syllables."
"But... why?"
"Plaid was the loudest color we could think of that was short enough."
"What? Lou--oh."
"Yeah."
Twilight nodded slowly, "Yeah."
1893755
"TAOIST SUPREMACY WHITE?"
Do grammar Nazis believe in Strunk-and-White Power?
1894004
The Jedi belief system is sort of Taoism (after it has gone through a meat grinder, granted) and master gives us supremacy. I picked white 'cause of your avatar.
I'm uncertain whether you need to be punched because of that or given cake. Possibly punched with a cake.
1894002
Fancy maths was just a hobby.
And well done on the scene, agent DESCENDING NATURE PURPLE. APPREHENSION PLAID it is.
1894031
I always figured the force was a fantasy mix of shintoism and native American belief.
But I can definitely see the Jedi as Taoists.
1894835
Oh, I made one. BATTLESTAR BED WHITE. That's you. Stromo being 'BED' is easy enough[1], but I had to reach for the 'Kobal.'
[1] If you have a smattering of Ancient Greek anyway.
1894031
I'm assaulting him with cake.
1893055
Yes, something about Big Macintosh suggests he's pretty well-educated even though he doesn't show it. One idea I've had about him is that he's pursuing an agronomy degree via a correspondence course.
1906756
That's very good. I see Mac as intelligent and reasonably well-read, though he does not have much formal education because of the loss of his parents and the subsequent need to work the farm.
That may be why he says so little: he went from being one of the brightest kids in class to being a farmpony who never finished school, and he's embarrassed about it. So he figures the less he says, the less likely he is to draw attention to his (self-perceived) disadvantage.