Cognitive Rebellion: The Art of Pony Duels

Today I edited Chapter 3 of Everfree: Innocence Lost to add a good 1800 words to the chapter. A good 2/3 of that is a fight scene between a unicorn and a pegasus. So, to get things out of the way, here's the shameless advertisement for you to go read that right now. Tell me what you think about it, then come back here. Done? Alright. I want to write a bit about how I view the development of fight scenes for MLP fics and how you might be able to make yours a little more memorable (or give you ammo to throw at me when I say something completely out of left field or jump the shark).

From what I've seen from the community here (I haven't been around that long), fight scenes are sort of a rare thing. Oh, I'm sure people will be able to point out the numerous war fics, horror fics, several adventure fics etc. where fights occur, but they aren't the fights I'm talking about. They certainly all have aspects or brief looks at fight scenes, but I want to focus in on a particular type of fight scene. The classic 1 v 1 duel. The fight to the death, mano y mano. In this case, Pony vs. Pony.

Now I could delve into detail on why I don't want to write about other types of fights, but it really boils down to two topics: scale and combatants. I'll use war fics to point out what I mean.

In war fics, the perspective switches often to give you a sense that there is more to this battle than just where one pony is. It also gives you and the writer a bit of variety. Finding all the ways that a single pony can wade through a crowd of enemies while keeping it from being repetetive is a difficult task, but it can be done. There's two simple ways to do this: jump to different characters or focus on one pony's movements within a group. Unfortunately, the first solution converts action into something of an episodic nature. We get Pinkie's time in the fight. Now Pinkie is on timeout while we look at Twilight. Rarity's turn. Oh wait, we're back to Twilight now. A good author can make these transitions painless, but it simply cuts down our focus on one particular situation. The second solution is one I'm more fond of (I'm a big fan of first person stories). Now you have the freedom to make the battle more of a streamlined narrative, but you run into topic two: combatants.

When you focus on a character in a war, they need to live. That means either making them really good at avoiding danger and attacks (booooring) or making them really good at playing bowling ball to the enemy bowling pins. The problem with that is just who are they plowing through? We can only name and develop so many characters. Enter the "mooks." You know them. Red shirts, cannon fodder, those guys that run in just for the simple purpose of getting stabbed by the guys on the front line. We don't care about these characters. They are expendable. So why write about them for more than 10 seconds before moving on to the next one?

So why write about creating pony duels? Because I think they are ridiculously underappreciated. They add a personal touch to the fight. You can care about both characters and often be conflicted about who you want to win. They both have motivations. They both have reasons to be fighting each other. They both have a reason to win. To put the icing on the cake, all of this can be explored mid fight and not detract from the excitement. In fact, it can sometimes enhance it, providing "You Monster!" moments and such.

Another reason is that duels allow the writer to explore the limits of what they believe these ponies are capable of. Take a look at The Immortal Game by AestheticB. This person, while a bit grandiose due to the overpowered nature of his/her characters, can write some duels very well. Indeed, while AestheticB has introduced several huge changes to the magic system of MLP, it is the applications of those changes that are by far the most entertaining.

You see, when I think about a fight scene, I consider 4 main things: combatant abilities, setting, interactions of combatant abilities, and interactions of abiliites on setting. It is very, very important for me to think about each of these things individually, even though it looks like two topics: abilities and environment. But leaving it to just those two can get me into a relatively scripted fight that leaves no room for flexibility. Walk yourself into a corner, and you fall into the traps of needing a deus ex machina or leaving a huge loophole (the dreaded "why didn't character x just do this?" moment).

First, what can your ponies do? Is this a full blown Alicorn vs Alicorn fight where there are no real limits or is this Applejack taking on Rainbow Dash? How does an Earth pony fight? How does this specific Earth pony fight? Can I incorporate their special talent? Can I expand on their special talent for combat purposes? What if they used their special talent this way? This is where you get to start playing around with the bounds of the show. If you're writing a duel to the death, you're probably running on minimal show filters anyway so why bother? Let loose a little bit with your imagination, but keep it within reason. For every super power you give to your hero, you need a stronger one for the villain or things will get too boring. You get the picture. This is probably the first step you always take when thinking about fights anyway. You know what? I should probably start making lists of pony abilities before I start writing and run through that list every 50 words. Yeah, that's actually a good idea... Maybe later.

Second, where are you? Are you in a house or a field? Is this on a cliffside or near a volcano? Can the environment change of its own accord? Do any of the ponies need to account for seasickness or the jostling of a boat? Are there noncombatants around? What are they doing? Considering everything about your setting can really be a deciding factor of how alive your fight can become. Make sure you take note of any special features of the setting. Not every fight can take place on a perfectly flat deserted field.

The next two parts are critical to making your piece unique. You may have a general idea of how to put together your fight, but think: Is Applejack just going to sit around and take hit and run tactics from Rainbow Dash? No. That Earth pony is going to work out a way to counter Dash's speed or maybe rope her in somehow. Is that how she will fight Twilight? Hay no! Well, actually that depends on how you write the unicorn, but still. It won't be about simply reducing mobility anymore and Applejack's behavior should reflect that. It's all about thinking outside the box, how to multipurpose the same ability and countering powers that make a fight way too one sided.

Now comes the part that I find is most difficult: interaction with the setting. This is really really really what makes the scene unique but also requires the most attention to detail. Any fight can take place in a room or a warehouse or an orchard, but actually using those things is hard to remember. So you know when I mentioned keeping track of distinct landmarks or features in your setting? Pretend one blows up. What happens? You have shrapnel! What can we do with shrapnel? Well, it flies at things to provide cuts, we could make a unicorn grab and redirect it, or it could force movement to another part of the setting. Are your warehouse shelves filled? Projectiles! Is there an extraordinary number of chest high walls? Cover! Can tall things be knocked over? Obstacle! Or weapon! Or both! Does something burn? Heat! Smoke! Everything those things entail! Did a spell miss? Well it had to hit something! It's all about remembering where you are and keeping track of what your ponies are doing.

This can make for some really interesting fights. Here's a non-duel example of a fight I did years ago. When I wrote Harry Potter fanfiction, I made a Death Eater assault on the Hogwarts Express via broomstick. Now this sounds simple right? Just make them send random spells, fly around, have kids defend from the windows, right? I splurged a bit on Michael Bay pills. Throw in an explosion with upward concusive force to make the back cars curl up like a scorpion tail for the hero to catch from on top of the still moving train. Then have him hijack a broom and take the fight to the air. Then have him jump off the broom and take the fight into freefall (yes, as a 14 year old fanfic writer, my Harry Potter was obscenely overpowered). It's a ridiculous exaggeration of what is possible in the universe, but look at the dynamics of the fight! Keep your eyes and mind open.

I'll probably write another post on the more personal nature of a duel later because this is becoming a novel. Read this, comment on it, berate me, ignore it, etc. but most of all, think about the dynamics of fighting. Time to get back to writing Chapter 4...