Just had a pretty cool idea . . . · 12:13am May 3rd, 2016
Fast as lightning, sharp as a sword
With Captain America: Civil War coming out soon (I'll be going to see it), and with a new Starlight-based episode out, I started thinking about how the show treats some of it's antagonists, and it got me thinking . . . .
What if someone stood up to Twilight and said that these villains need to be put in check?
What if that pony (or whatever species) introduced a new law to Celestia and Luna that kept reformed characters like Trixie, Discord and Starlight on an incredibly short leash, and Twilight disagreed. So, everypony would be taking sides over this new proposition: Twilight opposing it, and this new character supporting it.
I imagine Twilight, Trixie, Discord, Starlight, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Rainbow Dash and Luna would be on the opposition side.
And I imagine Rarity, Applejack, Shining Armor, Cadance, Big McIntosh, Celestia, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders would side with this other character who supports the proposition.
And I imagine Fluttershy to be like Spider-Man in this case: on the fence, maybe joining one side only to side with the other at the last minute.
My question though, is who should lead this faction supporting the "Reformed Antagonist Registration Act" (RARA)? Is there a character in the show who has just as much conviction as Twilight, but would easily disagree with her? Should it be someone's OC?
What do you guys think? Should I break my promise against writing by doing this story? Or would someone else handle it better?
Stay quick, stay sharp, and thanks for reading.
I would say AJ would be the one to lead it
Awesome, I would read it!!
How about my OC Dracal in using it to take control of Equestria?
I think that's a great idea!
Though I would think that someone's OC would be better suited for the role than any canon character. Well, except maybe Spitfire.
Having actually caught a prerelease showing of the movie I can say two things:
1. Holy shit that movie was awesome.
2. Where is the Civil War fanfiction?
The thing about the Marvel Comics' Civil War was that it presented from both sides murky conclusions and had our heroes face terrible demons. To ensure something similar, then, the conclusions drawn must thus be just as murky, and perhaps as dark and not necessarily "good." If one were to suggest one side is better than the other, the afflicted side must be able to support their own side with reasons that counter the others.
The argument in Civil War (the comic) was based on whether superhumans should register or not. Captain America took anti-registration, and Tony Stark took pro-registration. Interesting side-note, both initially were against it until the tragic New Warriors incident. Anyway, there is one moment prior to the whole event that really starts to challenge both sides as not being so black-and-white. In it, both Tony Stark and Peter Parker talk to the senators about how Superheroes revealing their identities would in turn lead to more deaths, as the super-villains they've accumulated would inevitably hunt them down and destroy all that they love. The argument against that, or the counter-reason, is that police, firemen, hospital staff, regular soldiers, anyone who puts their life in danger suffers from a similar danger.
Note as well that in the comics, Spider-Man is the quintessential protagonist of the entire arc. He, after all, sees both sides' arguments, and even transitions from one to the other.
The reason why this worked so well is that Spider-Man was a great "neutral-but-not-really" kind of character. He was close to both Stark and Rogers, and understood the importance of both sides' argument. His ties to both cancels out the opposition, making him mathematically "neutral," but really, he is just as torn as the rest of us.
This bit of analysis then reveals that what makes a story such as this complex and well-received is that it asks the toughest question we can ask: Do the needs of the many ever outweigh the needs of the few? Does individual liberty hold more ground over general safety? Such a question, historically, has been asked between the first parties of America. The Federalists rightfully feared too much freedom, after the Whiskey Rebellion. The Democratic-Republicans, on the other hand, encouraged a lighter hold on individual liberty.
Therefore, the question or theme that could be applied to what you propose is whether or not forgiveness has a value, a limit, or a requirement. That is to ask: Do the actions of the past reflect the nature of the present? Can you correctly identify who will remain a villain without giving a second chance? How many chances can you give?
More abstractly, is the right to due process too slow of a situation? Do any rights matter, if you have no guarantee you will always deserve them? Is not the future so uncertain that to forgive is just as dangerous as to not forgive?
The issues of forgiveness, redemption, and retribution cannot be justifiably answered by even the greatest of stories. It is a philosophical argument at heart, one that is far too intricate and far too delicate to analyze without setting off a huge bomb. It is indeed a tough topic to tackle for this very reason.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but based on what you've written in the past—your numerous stories and blogs—it's hard for me to say that you could write something this in-depth without fueling an emotionally charged response and output. In slightly different terms, I'm not positive you could write something that could be an analogy to the Civil War Event. Of course, given that the above is just my analysis, it is equally possible that you could write such a story, even if you don't follow what I have analyzed.
Preferably, then, the character who offers up this unique parallelism of ideas and values would be a new character; one who understands both, has been afflicted by both, and seeks some form of absolution. The conflict would not only be between friends and family, but foes, feelings, and all other familiar f-words. And the complex nature of asking such a question must be answered in a way that answers satisfactory, but also leaves the reader slightly disappointed in the outcome. After all, neither side is truly right; and if we've read the Civil War comics, no one is truly safe.
What about Sunset against Twilight?
Yes yes yes YES! I think this is a great idea!
Honesty, I would say Discord would be in Tony's position. They are both bring with great power who are loose cannons that basically did whatever they wanted and then got a reality check. They then try to help but end up creating a threat that nearly wiped out the planet/Equestria and now try their best to make up for their mistakes.
Discord might see this as a necessary safe guard for his powers since he cannot trust himself to use them freely without harming others. He cares about the world but he doesn't want to stop being himself and the RARA is the middle ground he believes he needs.
That's just my interpretation anyway, I would read the fic whoever you decided to put in that role.
3914556 yeah she would be brought back cause of the tighter leash, which would reunite her with Celestia, and she would feel guilty for wanting great power before so she would try to prove herself by agreeing to the act that would limit the power she would be allowed
Great idea.
Somepony/thing with a background in military or corrections. Maybe a gryphon hired by Celestia or a veteran from EQ.
I would pay to see you write it...if I can read it of course
It's actually a pretty cool idea, though in my opinion, it may require something stronger to break them up like so.
Fluttershy would be firmly on whichever side is less strict towards the reformed villains and offers them a second/third/seventh chance
She'd hate seeing them limited and contained
This sounds like an awesome idea. I'd read it. As for who'd be the villain, maybe someone who lost something because of one of the reformed villains? I can't think of anyone from the top of my head. An OC could work, but I'd personally prefer a canon character.
That would be pretty epic, considering how much disdain I have for the reformed characters.
Team Captain America FTW
SO AWESOME!!!!
PLEASE DO IT
hey everyone something i did lel
3919703 Sorry. Still can't see it.
It would honestly be a clever way to show how the rest of Equestria deals with reformed villains. If you do write it, don't forget to make Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon register, too.
3920360 Hmmm . . . maybe not register, but I can see them opposing it, maybe worried that such a proposition would be too hard on them even though they're just kids. Good suggestion.
And thanks for favoriting "The Phantom Pony of Everfree". I appreciate that.
3919705 does fimfiction not work with g+ so than ill use the dev version lel
here does it work now
3921426 Yes, it works now. And I saw that before. Thank you so much.
3922169 np can you put it on one of your blogs for me plz :)
3922622 Maybe later. I have an announcement to make today, and someone else asked me to advertise for them too.