Mar
22nd
2016
Why did no one else think of this? · 1:17pm Mar 22nd, 2016
I don't usually just post comics in my blogs, but every once in a while, the fandom's visual artists blow my mind with their ideas.
Seriously, why did no one think of this before now?
inb4 everyone tells me how they already thought of it and I'm terrible for not reading their stories :B
But seriously, Tartarus is a real, visitable place, even if we haven't seen much of it. Why not Elysium too? Explain why AJ is sad because there's a complicated series of rules for who can go there why and when. Or maybe it's just one day a year the living can visit, and those cold Sweet Apple Acres winters get mighty lonely.
Fandom never ceases to amaze.
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PresentPerfect · 1,005 views
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Now we know why AJ hasn't bothered to see her "departed" parents. They always ask the questions you don't want to answer.
Heh, I also find it humorous that Hell and Heaven are right next door. Think they have a demilitarize zone between them or they just timeshare?
...Hah.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Technically, Elysium is the upper level of the Underworld while Tartarus is the lower. Twilight could take the Apple family to visit their relatives and play catch with Cerberus until they're done with the visit. (Greek Mythology is weird and highly flexible.)
...and darnit, now I need to go back and make a change on my Olympus story. Curse you, PP.
3820358 yeah, pretty much. Now we need to write a fic about it.
Because
mudEarth Ponies don't have souls, duh.3820368 according to Dante Aligeries book 'La divina comedia', 'The heavenly comedy' (WHICH IS NOT A COMDEY!!!) there is a place, a so called gray zone, between heaven and hell, where souls that doesn't fit in hell but doesn't immidiatly fit heaven either is prepared until they can go to heaven
I really really need to read up on my Greek mythology. So much of it can apply to MLP.
3820425
So Limbo or Purgatory?
AKA, office space.
Because apples.
3820438
"Um, excuse me... Jesus, I believe you have my stapler..."
3820425 it is explicitly a comedy. It has a happy ending.
Is "Elysium" what the fandom has settled on for pony heaven? I always really liked "the summer lands"...
3820484
It's because Tartarus is canon that Elysium makes sense, both belonging to greek mythology.
I hate to be that guy, but I believe Twilight says Tartarus is specifically the place where monsters are locked away, not where dead people go. Tirek didn't even die to go there, he was just banished.
3820403 All the fics need to be rewritten too.
All the fics.
3820498
Wow, way to be that guy. :(
3820498
I also hate to be that guy but that description also fits the mythological Tartarus, it was a dungeon to imprison immortal or unwanted beings, like the Titans.
Hades was the underworld for dead souls as a whole, though I guess they got sent to Tartarus for judgement and punishment if they were wicked enough or something, but it was more like outsourcing the punishment than a proper part of the afterlife.
Wouldn't that render death meaningless?
You could just visit the "afterlife" whenever you wanted.
3820467 yeah well there's hell lot of disturbing stuff inbetween
3820438 exactly
3820560
Well, like I said, there's all sorts of things you could do to make it so that there are consequences to dying, for both the dead and those they leave behind. I mean, death does have meaning in the show, AJ and Big Mac both miss their parents, so it can't be the case that there's no consequence. And ponies, being squishy and emotional, are more prone to mope over what's missing than we would be, I think.
This might be the kind of idea best suited to a meeting-of-cultures kind of story. Imagine a pony horrified that her human friend can't go visit his dead parents whenever.
(I mean, what comes after Nightmare Night? The Day of the Dead? When the Lord of Elysium, moved by the untold [completely non-canonical] deaths caused by Nightmare Night opened the gates to his realm for one day only, so the living and dead could reunite.)
3820560 There's a fair number of fictional universes where the afterlife could best be described as a metric ton of paperwork. Per year of a person's life.
I propose that death has meaning for precisely the same reason as taxes: takes a hell of a long time to get through, and most people would rather avoid it than deal with the hassle.
Must fic...
Must fic...
MUST FIC...
Tartarus isn't really an afterlife in Ponyland tho, from what I can remember. More like a superprison for superbaddies. Elysium being an afterlife isn't really consistent with that, if it does exist in the show.
3820532
Earth ponies have the Magic of the Soil. On the night after a burial, they gather around the grave and work their hooves deep into the freshly turned earth. Roots respond to their call. Tiny creatures stir and turn to their work. The Wheel turns.
Headcanon accepted.
3820640
See 3820554
3820580 Be that as it may, at the time the Divine Comedy was written, "Comedy" just meant "Story that ends happily." In fact, the definition didn't shift to "things that are funny" until about the 1800s.
3820761 My point. It is not comedy in the sense of being funny.
3820761
Somewhat similarly, "tragedy" doesn't necessarily mean it's a sad, mopey story, it means a story that ends badly, tipically with the meaningless death of the protagonist or a loved one, but most stories tagged as tragedies are anything but.
I saw tartarus as more of their max security prison, not death.
3820484
Everypony in Equestria just goes to that big farm down the road.
No one's quite sure where or exactly how big it is, but that's not important.
I can now confirm that I have an outline for a story, working title "They Live on in These Parts"
3820852
Brilliando :D
3820828
I thought they just had a stallion pulling a cart calling out for ponies to bring out their dead.
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/tumblr_mjbdh4ci8u1r3l41yo1_500.gif
Clearly, when Applejack's parents died, they did not go to Elysium Fields. They morphed into shooting stars.
I thought you were better than this.
3820852 If Tirek can escape Tartarus and go on a rampage, can AJ's parents escape Elysium and....also go on a rampage? Will Applejack and the gang have to stop them?
3821322
That's just the Elysian version of nagging phone calls.
"AJ, did you see the stars? You saw the stars, right? When are you gonna find a nice stallion to settle down with, we're not getting any younger here!"
3821521
"Yer also not gettin' any older, Ma."
3820498
i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t510/lmclecm/10e68c5022ee9ad0b19c724df60d8e80_zpsjwk4izev.jpg
3821691
"That is entirely beside the point!"
3820498
Be "that guy" Red. We deserve a "that guy," and you're nominated.
3820554
You are correct. Well done.
I'm still keeping my "Well of Souls."
Tartarus is a austere and neutral hell of pretty white high security detention stalagmites.
Elesium is a chaotic wasteland of decomposing undead screaming for release but never finding such.
3823037
wait did you just suddenly come back after having been gone for like a year or two?
Or did you come back a few months ago and I'm only just now realizing it?
Or did I get confused and maybe trip over some melty ice cream and now everything is upside-down and I need a cookie? :(
3823411
Pretty much just a lurker now.
3824930
I'm glad you're still around, I've always enjoyed seeing your comments. :)
It is done. And just in time for Mother's Day!