Actually, I'm Dead - Editorial: Applejack the jerk and Trixie the ninja · 3:50am Jun 15th, 2015
And now is time for a Wave's Ramble, with Wave Blaster
(yes, I'm ripping off Chester A. Bum too)
Before I publish next chapter, I would like to give you guys something to think about.
Now, last chapter of Actually, I'm Dead raised some interesting reactions in the comments section, specially about the main protagonist and antagonist that are Trixie and Applejack. Although I already addressed such reactions and replied to the commentators accordingly, I thing that I should give you guys some solid clarifications about them.
So, let's strap in for our first editorial.
Applejack is not a heartless jerk
First of all, there's Applejack attitude, and how it came out as a complete jerk with a heart of jerk. Yeah, shouting at the disabled unicorn who has also a medical condition sounds like something that not even Nightmare Moon would do. In fact, I've seen my fair share of fics where such a condition is used as a moral horizon event to show that, depending if it's crossed or not, either even evil has standards or the character is a complete monster.
So, why in hell did I put one of the main side characters, and an usually grounded and nice pony in such a position?
Well, it all depends on the perspective. Remember, this is a Trixie story, and she's, over all, an illusionist, so all you see is just what the writer (that's me) and the main POV (that's Trixie) want you to see.
Applejack's behavior and characterization is a heavy example. From Trixie's POV, it looks like she's the main antagonistic force, or at least, a disc-one villain. But what happens when we shift the POV?
Let's start with the denotative part of this, what was in front of Applejack; Trixie talking with Apple Bloom. Nothing wrong here, right? Okay, let's go for the connotative section, what Applejack saw; A pony who previously acted like a general jerk and recently became a living nightmare who attacked her friends (1), kicked one of them out of town (2), encased said town in an crystal dome (3) and enslaved the towns ponies too (4). All that, combined with the fact that she looks like a walking corpse. And that thing was way too close to little, vulnerable, innocent, too young, Apple Bloom, to whom Applejack has been shown canonically being overprotective and having a heavy big sister instinct.
All of this gets immediately rectified in the chapter's last scene, where Applejack herself show her self-doubts about how she acted and is willing to put the past in the past and actually give Trixie a chance at Pinkie's party.
Trixie is not a ninja, regardless of how AWESOME! that may sound
Okay, this one came out as a surprise.
Yes, Trixie's master, Kunai Tail, taught her some of the ways of the ninjutsu, like using her surroundings, some acrobatics and not relying entirely on her magic. This doesn't mean she's a master of the ninjutsu. At her best, she's trained only in four of the twenty disciplines (Taijutsu, Kayakujutsu, Shinobi Iri and Henso Jutsu in case you're wondering), and she would be hardly a master of them.
If Trixie is anything, she's a very accomplished showmare who knows acrobatics from studying with someone who's very good at it.
Now, when coming up with it, nightwalker and I agreed that each of Trixie Seven Masters of Neigh Orleans should have taught her something important. In Kunai Tail's case, it was the physical part, mostly to fit with making Trixie a pony of many talents that doesn't come from school. Of course, for the reading experience's sake that I'm not going to reveal anything else beyond this.
P.S.: You got who kunai Tail really is, right?
There isn't actually such a thing as ninjutsu, historically. It's pretty much completely fictional, like Dim Mak, and only exists insofar as there are unscrupulous con men who fleece people by "teaching" it to them in their McDojos. Just pointing that out.
3151530
Of course. But since this is a story about a reanimated dead talking magical pastel colored unicorn pony, is really the idea of ninjutsu being a thing that far from suspension of disbelief?
Also, even if fictional, there's a very interesting mythology around the idea of a someone mastering twenty different disciplines. Having such a master as one of Trixie's mentors ads a lot of mysticism around her backstory, which is ultimately the intentional effect.
BTW, I just realized about it, but I friend told me that you are one of the heavy commentators on the site. I made my own investigation (journalist student FYI) and I can only see that it honors me to have such an illustrious member of the FiMFiction community reading my work and delivering useful and overall interesting feedback.
As I always say, thanks a lot for reading.
3152512
I guess you're welcome? I'm really just bored at work and think you've got a good thing going. I don't keep commenting on stuff I don't think is worth it. Unless I'm just being a dick for giggles, at least.
...and when the fuck did I become illustrious? I may need to check my internet habits.
3152527
I may be mistranslating again, but so far, I've seen that a lot of people respects you.
3152677
They really shouldn't. I'm just spending (apparently) way too much of my downtime posting words about ponies on the Internet, not doing anything respectable. If you think my comments are useful and pertinent to your story, then by all means, I'll be glad for you to take them by their own merit, but that's really all anyone should be doing. Certainly not on my reputation or anything silly like that.
I may need to change my name and image one of these days if I'm suddenly becoming "a respected member of this here community" or whatever, god forbid...
3152756
Okay, whatever rolls your boat (or something like that, my translator broke). I'm still glad to have a reader who speaks his mind.
3152816
"Floats your boat" is how that idiom goes. For the rhyme, you know. You're Chilean, yes? For that and while using a translator, the writing in your stories is certainly excellent. I wouldn't even have noticed you're not a native speaker.
3152842
Heh, thanks, mate, we can thank five years of reading comics, four of playing Halo, two of reading fimfictions and one and a half of playing Team Fortress 2, all of that in Shakespeare's language. Still, if you go to The Doom Patrol's first chapter, you can gaze how eyes bleed inducing used to be my writing on my first tries.
And yes, Chilean, from where earthquakes are almost daily, everybody is always ready to say something sarcastic and a bone breaking cold happens in winter (which is now).
3152905
Sounds like home. Except for the earthquakes, of course. We just get flooding. But yeah, self-taught English is the best English, although I suppose I have a bit more literature in it than you do. One of the advantages of figuring out the Internet when it was still new - you get to learn where all the free books are at.