Oct
25th
2016
Peach Spark: Ready to be your friend! · 1:54am Oct 25th, 2016
The Pony Who Lived Upstairs is finished, but its title character is still here, hanging out in my mind, eager for chatter and company! This is your chance to chat with her about whatever you like, just like some of the story's readers did after Chapter 16. Anything you'd like to tell or ask her? Anything you think she might like to talk about? Go ahead and talk to Peach in comments on this post!
Peach says:
Hi folks! Some of my best friends are human, so I look forward to hearing from you!
Hi, Peach!
What do you recommend as the best way to become acclimatized to human culture?
Greetings, Ms. Sparks! I was wondering, what's your favorite episode of MLP:FiM and why?
Ms. Sparks:
Have you ever considered applying to a university here on earth and taking, for example, a philosophy course? you seem like the sort to like it.
Hi Peach
Have you ever gotten the chance to meet a friendly Dragon you could be interested in while on your adventures, or know of any dragons you would like to meet?
Hey, Peach --
Curious to know what qualities you'd be looking for in a possible human suitor.
Greetings Ms. Sparks, I have several questions for you if that's alright.
Firstly I was curious about your opinion on Humans in Equestria. Your rulers have made their stance pretty clear, but I was curious about how you felt about it. Considering all you've seen on Earth so far and all you've been through with Mr. Pfeffer both on Earth and in Equestria, do you feel more consideration should be given for humans to visit Equestria? How concerned would you feel about Earth culture being exposed to the general Pony populace, and do you feel it would be as damaging as the Princesses think it might?
Also, hypothetically, lets say the subject were to come up of designating an experimental human living area or section somewhere in Equestria, where they could rent or make homes to live in, seek employment, and either temporary or permanent residency such as how you Ponies do now on Earth. How would you feel about that?
And Final question, also very hypothetical. Lets say that all of your Princesses agree to close the portal between Earth and Equestria for whatever reason. However they give the Ponies on earth the choice of staying forever on Earth if they wanted. Which would you choose?
Hi, Miss Peach!
I was wondering how many similarities you've found between humans and ponies. Do you feel ponies would welcome humans in general or be selective in granting access to Equestria?
4270145
Peach Spark says:
Hi, Cinnamon Swirl! I think that's a great sounding idea, but it might not be that great to actually do. Because here's the thing--I like to read books, and I check them out from the library all the time. I like getting e-books too. I've read a fair bit about human philosophers already, and I'll probably read more. But I feel like philosophy is the sort of thing you can learn on your own. Whatever thing you want to study, if you study it deep enough, you'll really be studying philosophy. Sure, I could learn philosophy from some professor, but I feel like that'd be kind of a waste of money, since even if you don't try to learn philosophy, philosophy happens anyway. To be honest, I feel like I'm already kind of a philosopher! The stuff I post online seems about as deep as a lot the stuff the professionals write. It may not be right, but then, they probably mostly aren't right either.
Then again, I could sign up for a philosophy class that's mostly discussions with other interesting people who've got interesting ideas. But I can get that kind of thing anyway! I just have to go to Turtlewood Coffee and say "Hey everyone, today we're discussing the nature of causality! I heard Aristotle said everything happens 'cause of four basic causes." And we're off! No tuition cost and no schedules. Plus coffee!
I might take a physics course someday, though. Second Sight thinks I should, and she's usually right about that kind of thing. Physics isn't as easy to pick up on the fly, though I think it's still easier than most people think.
4271425
Peach Spark says:
Hello Olden Bronie! I feel like it's actually easier to list the differences between humans and ponies, since we're almost the same in most ways. You may not believe it, but I think we ponies are actually more like humans than like a lot of other talking species from our own world, like changelings or dragons or (shudder) breezies. We have kind of the same attitude toward culture and toward our role in the world. Ponies and humans both believe in progress, we believe in right and wrong, and we believe in trying to secure prosperity for everyone. We live in a bunch of different ways and that's okay. We tend to specialize the work we do because we can do more as a society that way. We like muffins. We have big cities and little town and country ranches, and we have professional sports where the players are super-popular. We have sleepovers with pillow fights and birthday cakes with candles and geeky conventions and banjos and pipe organs. We have almost the same life cycles--our colts and fillies hit puberty at the same time instead of the colts coming later, but it's otherwise the same--and even though our heads are built differently, we have almost the exact same sensory profiles. I can only imagine that there's a zillion billion worlds out there, and due to a billion amazing coincidences, despite our bodies being different and the fact your world has no innate magic, we have almost the exact same kinds of experiences as we go through life, and the Helpseek spell detected all that through the multiverse and glommed onto your world as being what we needed. And of course, a world like ours is what your kids needed to have something to identify with so they could grow up right.
As for welcoming humans to come and live here, we've been debating that for a while now. We're definitely gonna keep screening human visitors so we don't get any really bad apples, like Bernie Madoff, but I feel like when negotiations are done, most humans who want to come here will be allowed. It's looking like how we're going to make it is that you need two pony sponsors to stay in Equestria permanently, and there'll be an essay question and a Mad-Libs section to check for psychological disturbance. We'll probably open up one region as a pilot program kind of deal, just to see how it goes, and maybe someday humans will be able to live anywhere in Equestria. As for the rest of our world, we'll start letting people through as resident aliens and if they leave our borders, it's up to other sovereignties how they want to treat them.
I did hear there's a movement underway to add a role for a human player to Buckball, though! It's called Buckball Plus.
4270289
Peach Spark says:
I've actually only ever met two dragons, and they were both on the same train trip! That was the big scary trip to get the spell reversed from back when Cadance made me fall in love with Pepper. The one was a guy called Grig the Unrelenting, and he was nice enough, and curious, and he's Pepper's pen pal now, but he's not really my type. Too young, I want to say, except he's probably way older than he looks because of the whole dragon thing. But he didn't seem to have confidence in who he was yet. That's something I'm really into. If you can't tell me about who you are, how can you lead me on an exciting and flavorful journey of the spirit?
The other dragon I met is probably the most famous one in Equestria--Spike! I only technically met him, though--he and Twilight were on the train and I only had time to ask him one question, so I asked what's the most things he's ever eaten in one meal. He was all happy to answer and said, "257!" I was going to ask him what kind of things they were, but like I said, no time. The crowd was pressing in! And Spike is way too young for me, so no, I haven't ever met a dragon suitor, but I'm holding out hope! You never know when you might be traversing some mountain range and run into Mr. Tall-Blue-And-Scaly. I think I'd want him to have a huge long ridiculous name with too many syllables, like Aporaphexomaptornith or something. And he could be searching for something, or embroiled in a long-distance dragon drama that involves a lot of curling up on his hoard and waiting and thinking about what to do and who to write to, and maybe sipping hot exotic dragon drinks no pony's ever heard of. Then again, maybe a dragon without a hoard would be better, since then I could help him build one!
I can't say there's any dragon I know of that I've got my eye on, though. Although wait a minute, I just thought of one. There's an actor called Rennet who's in all these movies about classic dragon stories and clashes between dragons and ponies, and in a few he just plays the villain straight up and kidnaps a princess or terrorizes villages and all that. And even if he's playing a nasty brute of a beast, his wit and heart show through in the way he breathes fire or delivers his lines! There's one movie where he even fences with a gigantic rapier. I'm a fan, so I guess I'd be glad to go out with him--who wouldn't? One of his horns is more crooked than the other and I think that's pretty sexy.
Hi Peach, thanks for answering my question! I guess I just thought you might find it interesting in a setting where everyone was expecting to chat about such things.
Does Luna ever visit pony dreams on your side of the portal?
4270106
Peach Spark says:
Hi again Admiral! I'm thinking if you're a pony, the quickest way to acclimate yourself to human culture is a three step process:
1. Watch the Jackass movie.
2. Go to mass on Christmas at a church.
3. Go to a house party and talk about these experiences!
Okay, it's a little American/Christian-centric, but what can you do. Jackass and Christmas Mass give you a sense of the breadth of things. Then you go talk it off for perspective and so you can see what humans are really like. I don't know if this is the best way to acclimatize yourself, but it's the basic essence of what I did to show my sister Candle Seed the human world when she finally came for a visit. After that, she wasn't scared of anything.
4271290
Peach Spark says:
Hi hi!
Okay, you're the third person this thread to call me Miss Sparks. My name isn't Peach Sparks! There's only one spark. Maybe it'd be better if there were more, but since there's only one, we've got to make it count. This is like the opposite problem my best ponyfriend has. Her name is Clear Airways, but people are always calling her Clear Airway or Miss Airway. Her parents decided multiple airways are better than one, I guess. Multiple questions are good too!
I totally do. That's the main cause the Friends of Equestria are working toward, and I'm very much behind it. I think it was striking when Ron visited my hometown how wary of him everyone was, and by comparison how totally harmless he actually was. Almost laughably harmless. I don't think he would have known how to harm us if he'd wanted to. I'm glad they're granting visas for visitors now, and I'm hoping they'll open the doors to taking permanent residents and even citizens soon.
Okay, well the thing is, most humans seem individually harmless, but somehow, we know they can cause big trouble somehow when you let them live in groups. (I'm assuming you're a pony from your user icon.) It's possible that being subject to equine laws and standards would shut that down, but that's a risk you want to be really careful with, because, you know, we only have one Equestrian civilization and we don't want to ruin it! So what the princesses have been trying to figure out is how exactly industrial human societies have gone wrong, and whether there's a danger that might happen in Equestria. Like for example, here in America the big question is, what happened to all the bison? There used to be apparently like eighty million of them and the humans ate them and hunted them and used their body parts, and sure, that's pretty gross, but it's not like they were talking bison and at least they were keeping things sustainable. But then a different group of humans came from over the ocean and they were totally gung ho about killing bison and they just got out of control and killed them all. No more bison for anyone. And they also killed and relocated and assimilated and demeaned and cheated the humans who were here before them, and somehow when they realized what they'd done was wrong, they still didn't give the land back. So I don't know what's going on with that. All in all, I can understand why our leaders are really cautious about letting humans live here, but I feel like we can try it out a little and see if any problems develop. The big danger, I think, is that they 'corrupt' us by offering us things we love and suddenly we can't live without them, and our morals go out the window and suddenly we're just like them. We may be more moral than humans, but we're also a lot more impressionable and we have to watch out for that. So what the princesses are trying now is to come up with a list of rules and guidelines for ponies that we can read and repeat to remember who we are in the face of temptation. Maybe it'll be a book. Once we've got that, we'll be ready for the dark side of our human friends.
That is a really mean question, but I can't blame you for asking because I've actually thought about it already. I would choose to go back home. I would petition the princesses and the EOC to reopen the portals if they knew how, and I would miss my human friends (especially Pepper) a ton. I'd even miss the way it feels here, with the whole 'more real' thing it has going. I'd probably go wandering into the wild unknown edges of the world because now that I've tasted distant lands, I won't be satisfied with good old central Equestria. I might go wandering into the Unexplored West, or try to be an ambassador to the dragons, or sail off to see if I could track down George Harrison in the Old World. I could probably be a pretty okay sailor. I wrote a poem about the portals suddenly closing with me trapped in Equestria, but I never posted it because it was too sad. Maybe I will if people want me to, though!
4270304
Peach Spark says:
Hi, Mike the Red! I'm guessing you're probably human yourself and maybe you're coming on to me. That's fine--you're all the way through my computer screen so I don't feel threatened. Maybe I might even like you! I'm curious how a person gets a title like "the Red". I hope it didn't involve killing things, since I'm not so into that.
What do I like? I think the things I want in a human suitor would be pretty much the same as in a stallion. I'd want a man who's secure in himself... who's got things he's interested in and ways to further them. Projects he's working on. Things he can teach me, or that I can help him learn. I think romance should be a collaboration, and marriage even more so. I'd want good chemistry, verbal and physical. I'd want him to smell interesting (but not gross). He should be curious and he should be funny and he should be genuinely interested in me. Essentially, I want us to grow together! Because that's what love is, really! It's knowing that you and the person you know can grow together. I mean, we could grow toward each other, but we should grow with each other in some other direction, too. Preferably toward the sun. Now I sound like a plant, but if you're the guy for me, you'll think the way I randomly slip into extended metaphors is cute instead of scatterbrained.
I guess the only thing special about a human suitor would be that he's interested in ponies. And not just, like, a fan of Friendship is Magic, but actually interested in who we are and how we tick. And I guess if we're gonna have sex, you should think of bodies different from yours as something to be excited about, instead of something to get past. I mean, if you just want to have sex with something exactly like yourself, well, you don't really NEED a partner. I'm just saying.
Anyway, Mike, if you're in the tristate area and you want to get together, just go ahead and suggest a place we could go, and, I guess, write a short poem just to convince me you're deep. It doesn't have to be perfect, just creative. If you need a subject, let's go with... tomato juice.
Cheers,
Peach
4278256 Hey, Peach --
Thanks for responding -- and it's quite a lengthy and thoughtful response, which makes me feel ashamed for writing what might seemed to have been a rather frivolous question.
That having been said, I'll try to be concise and honest in my response.
My title is a pen name, originally assigned to a pony OC I had written my first story about -- but given the initial unfavorable response to the story, I took it down, even though I decided to keep the pen name. Red was one of the colors of my OC, thus it became part of his name. Perhaps one day I might try to write a new story about him. Maybe not, given the fact that he resembles Sombra in some fashion.
Secondly, I live about a thousand miles west of you -- so visiting is hampered by distance as well as financial constraints. I'd love to visit, but there are other obligations which prevent me from doing so -- I am presently in a relationship, though the passion died out many years ago. This relationship might best be described as a domestic partnership with no intimacy whatsoever. Regardless of that, though, I'm also quite curious about pony society, customs, culture, cuisine, and music. I personally think that a human/pony relationship might be far more rewarding than my present one -- and if intimacy might be included, I'm open to the prospect.
I agree with your opinion regarding how a relationship should grow and I find your phrasing amusing as well as enlightening -- and if one day I might be able to develop a friendship and perhaps a relationship, I believe I might be a happier man as a result.
As far as poetry goes, I have written some in the past, though I enjoy writing my stories more so than poetry.
Thanks again for your consideration and looking forward to further communication.
-Mike
4270128
Peach Spark says:
There's so many good ones! It's sort of like that Drunk History show on Comedy Central, watching the way things happened get presented in a such a silly, pithy way. I guess the episodes about famous mishaps especially tickle my funnybone for that reason--ones like "The Best Night Ever" or "The Saddle Row Review" or especially (I'm laughing even as I type this and I had to go back and retype because I couldn't stop laughing) "It's About Time." Holy guac is Twilight adorkable in that one. I heard she was so embarrassed when she heard it was an episode that she hid herself for a whole day. Then again, seeing the recent history of my civilization brought to life is really cool too, and that's what you get in the big episodes like "Twilight's Kingdom" and "Keep Calm and Flutter On". The historical two-parter I like best is "The Return of Harmony" because it's just so amazing to see the harm Discord can do when he really lets loose, and yet it still somehow winds up nice and tidy.
Other favorites include: "Luna Eclipsed, because it's so funny to see how the princess used to behave and compare it to how she is now. "MMMystery on the Ponyville Express, because of the amazing fantasy sequences that get spliced in--it makes me wonder what the human storyboarders would splice into my life from my fantasies if they'd ever made an episode about me. "Dog and Pony Show," because it has Diamond Dogs in it and those guys are so funny. I met a couple at Bronycon last year and they were the most hilarious drinking partners. "Pinkie Apple Pie" and "Hearthbreakers," since I empathize with the problem of dealing with families and customs different from your own in the countryside, and Pinkie Pie is really cute with Applejack. I've got a soft spot for "Sleepless in Ponyville" because it's the only episode that actually came within twenty miles of where I used to live--Witherton is just west and a bit north of Winsome Falls.
Of course, "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" and "Magical Mystery Cure" are amazing just 'cause of the jam packed songs and huge life-changing events we get to see. (Those things go hoof in hoof.) And "Pinkie Pride" is really exciting for similar reasons--it's Pinkie Pie being herself to an almost ridiculous degree, and I wonder how I would behave if I ever went cutie-crazy like she did. (Well, I probably have behaved that way once or twice. My mark is about connecting ideas and cultures together, and I can go a little off the deep end doing that sometimes.)
But you asked for my favorite episode of all, and I think that's got to be "Tanks for the Memories." I don't know why, unless it's that it's the closest thing to a sad ending any of them ever got. ("Just for Sidekicks" had a tragic ending, but it's not the same.) Something about Rainbow Dash is really earnest and pure to me, and it was one of the few winter episodes, which made it special, and it tugged on my heartstrings seeing how she tried to cope with losing her friend, if only for a season. It's tender and funny and even if the writing isn't amazing, it brings tears to my eyes.
Who's a silly pony? Yours truly is. But at least I'm in good company.
4284119
Peach Spark says:
Hi again Mike! Oh okay, so you wrote a story about someone called something "the Red", and even though it didn't work out, you decided to keep the red part. That's cool. Too bad about the story. And too bad about your relationship! So you were living with someone you loved, and that didn't work out, and you just stayed together 'cause it was easier than leaving? I mean, it kind of went that way with me and Pepper, but we were still best friends even after we broke up, so really we'd only broken up a little ways. I hope you find something better soon! If you want to come a thousand miles to date me, I guess you can, but I'm afraid I can't help with the airfare!
So what sort of poems did you use to write? And what kind of stories? I think writing stories is one of the neatest things someone can do, but since I'm busy blogging and working and experiencing culture so much I don't really have the time.
4272436
Peach Spark says:
Nope! That's one of the small scary things about being through the looking glass--we're not in the demesne of our princesses anymore! Luna can't even see our dreams from Equestria, let alone pass through them. In a way it makes me feel unprotected, but then I keep in mind that the royal gossip corps estimates Luna only goes through an average of fifty or so dreams a night, and only intervenes in maybe four. And humans get along without a dream custodian (although I think some of them might have totem animals or something that do the same thing?) And of course, for the thousand years Luna was away, ponies did without and we were fine. So it doesn't really bother me.
I've never been directly aware of her visiting me, but that doesn't mean she hasn't done it. I mean, she visited once in real life, because she'd heard about the Friends of Equestria and came to one of our bake sales and hung out way longer than we expected her to. (I asked her which she liked better, Newark or the moon, and she said Newark was way better 'cause it has so many people.) But I'm not sure if she's ever been in my dreams. There was one time back in Witherton I dreamed of owning a pet ferret, and when we were walking through the park we met a wild ferret there, and I tamed it and took it home too! Then each time I took my ferrets out for a walk, I met more and more wild ferrets, or saw them creeping around by the lake, and just for the heck of it I chased them down and tamed them all. I was up to seventeen pet ferrets at once, all bouncing around the house, and I heard a voice from somewhere: "Don't you think that's enough ferrets?!" I woke up pretty soon after that without ever finding out where the voice came from, but sometimes I wonder if it was Luna, looking in.
4286792 Hey, Peach --
My poetry writing days are long behind me -- about 30 years or so, I'd say -- but that doesn't mean I can't write poetry, it's just that I have to be in the right frame of mind for it. I like writing alternate universe stories which examine how a human might react either to being transformed into a pony or being whisked away to Equestria, and I try to imagine myself in his shoes -- a sort of character immersion, if you will.
As far as my current relationship goes, the situation is quite complex, and extricating myself from it requires more money than I currently have -- and given my present financial difficulties, acquiring that kind of money is virtually impossible. Traveling a thousand miles for a date is a daunting prospect, but if my luck changes for the better, I'd be open to the idea of doing so.
I look forward to future correspondence.
-Mike
4286859
Can one ever truly have enough ferrets though, Peach? They're like snake cats.
I actually have three more questions, should you care to answer them;
One of the founding ideas in your philosophical approach to the relationship between humans and ponies--since ponies appear in the show--is that humanity made ponies simple or less complicated than themselves. I'm curious why you think it's necessarily the case, and if it is the case, why this is necessarily bad?
I suppose what I'm feeling is that I don't necessarily think that--if indeed humans did create ponies--that you were made somehow 'simpler' but I can't help but feel that humanity took all the qualities we like about ourselves, ideals like friendship, happiness, cuteness--etc, and put them into you, the creation, while withhold negative things so they wouldn't suffer from them, sort of like a parent might do to a child. I'll admit that's paternal, but it isn't done maliciously but out of, in a sense, love and care.
The second question I have is two fold: first, I'm curious what you make of things like mlp fanfiction and fan works in general of all... well, let's call it 'of all sorts' and leave it at that. Other than your personal feelings on them, do you think they're depicting real worlds that exist just as yours do?
Which leads to the third question: do you think all fictional universes made by humans are actually 'real' and out there?
Thanks for your time! Hope you stick around for a long time, you're really the best!
4287186
Peach Spark says:
I have to ask, enough for what? Is there some strange purpose for snake cats you have in mind that could theoretically accommodate an infinite number of them, and works better the closer to infinity you get? Do you dream of living and moving through a world of solid ferrets, squirming and wardancing at you from every angle? If so, that's pretty boss, I guess. But I think in real life I could only handle three, four tops.
Well, if you look at, like, political campaigns, you'll see it really clearly. Humans analyze every twist and turn in a campaign in order to see how this demographic or that group of supporters will feel about it, and the different groups might have different opinions about waht is or is not a gaffe and compare the flow of electoral history to blah blah blah. In pony politics, it's more like you go and say your piece on stage, and maybe the big drama is that someone insults someone else, or maybe someone wears the wrong color ribbon in her hair, but it doesn't get a lot more complicated than that. No one bothers trying to "get out the vote" in general, on the theory that voter turnout correlates with a certain party's gains or anything like that. You basically just put up posters, send out fliers, and tell your friends to tell their friends.
It's like that with all sorts of issues. Our newspapers are shorter. Our stories are simpler. Our games are simpler. The official rulesheet for buckball is just that--a sheet of paper. The rules for soccer are a whole book. To me, it's really clear that we're simpler. Maybe not on the individual level, but on the cultural level, definitely.
Yeah, I'm with you there. That's what you guys did, and if it was done for love and care, it was from love and care of your own children. Because you didn't know we were going to actually show up. And that's really interesting in itself. From our perspective, we totally have a negative side--there are negative personality traits, evil acts, detrimental groups, and so on--but from your perspective, we're a sanitized humanity. So, yes, it might not be bad to be simpler. I mean, would you rather have milk with plants and shells and buttons floating in it? Or would you rather just have milk? Pure milk is simpler, but definitely better than the mixed up version. So some ponies, like my friend Seaswell, are proud of who we are with relation to humans. You can definitely see us as humans with the bad parts removed. But--maybe ironically--I think that view is a little too simple.
They're cool. I've read some of them. There was one called "Eternal" that made me cry. I think it's cool that humans write fiction about the fiction other humans make. I mean, why not pass it forward and share the love? The distinction between the fan stuff and the canon stuff, of course, is that the canon stuff really happened, and the fan works are just things that could have happened. But there's nothing wrong with writing alternate histories, so I've got no problem with it. I don't write stories myself, but I know there's at least one pony in Canterlot writing scroll after scroll of human fan fiction. His name's Nickerbocker. He imports Terran history books, devours them, and writes all sorts of stories about the coolest nations and heroes and monarchs in Earth's history and how he thinks their stories should have gone. I've only glanced at his stuff, but I hear it's catching on.
I I probably once would have said it doesn't matter, that it's a meaningless question. What does it mean for them to be 'out there' or not? But since now we know it's possible to go to another world with the kind of relationship we've got, I guess the answer has to be yes. Because who knows, you might wake up tomorrow to find Transformers or Warcraft orcs or Lensmen or personality cores knocking on your door. But just to be clear, you don't create a new world anytime you 'create' a new world. Making a fictional world is just establishing a connection to a place that, in a sense, already existed. Probably that connection'll never lead to anything, in which case the world might as well not have been real at all. But there's a tiny chance it might happen again the way it happened with us--in which case that place was real, and now they've got to send over existential folks like me and work out what their place in the multiverse is.
Aw, thanks. I'm not really the best--that's probably Celestia or God or something. But I just may still be the best pony blogging about Earth from Earth, which is probably what you meant anyway. So thanks!
4287055
Peach Spark says:
So how do you figure a human would react to that? And would it be different now than it was before we knew each other? I think if I got transformed into a human I'd probably... well it'd depend on if I could change back or not. But I'd probably be really interested and I'd do a whole series of blog posts, one for each body part and one for each sport I'd try, and so on. It'd be pretty cool.
4288171 I know if I were to be transformed into a pony, it would take quite a bit of time to adjust to the changes -- and depending on which kind of pony, learning magic or how to fly or how to use earth pony magic in its particular forms would take time. I also think just about any human would freak out about the transformation, especially if it were similar to the human to werewolf transformation in "The Howling."
4288168
I suppose I see your point, but you could argue--as many have done, that a lot of this coverage is just meaningless noise, the product of a 24 hour news cycle in a world that doesn't always have 24 hours of news to fill those hours. Is it more complicated? Maybe. But perhaps it's meaninglessly so.
I'm surprised, I would have thought perhaps ponies might get upset seeing their Princesses depicted as such. Or heroes, for that matter.
Do you ever worry, though, that those fanfics or other works of fiction in general are really just universes that have either been created--as you believe--or self existing places that humanity simply hasn't contacted with? For example, you yourself might be a character in a my little pony fanfic in some other human universe that's similar to the Earth you're on now, but different too.
Maybe! Maybe not! I don't see Celestia or god going on about having so many ferrets you have to swim through them!
I mean, Celestia probably would want some sort of cake world...
4289856
Peach Spark says:
Okay, well I never ever heard of The Howling, but I went and watched the transformation part online, and chizzle yeah! That kind of transformation from anything to anything would be super freaky. I was imagining it happening all at once in a big shimmery -bing-. Also, that movie is from 1981, which is way before you knew magic was real. I don't think I'd be really freaked out if I was turned into a human, unless I had no idea why it happened or I knew there was no way to go back. I'm guessing a lot of humans would feel the same way.
But yeah, adjusting might take time. Thing is, the popular transformation spells used by powerful unicorns and changeling thaumaturges are all pretty good about converting basic motor functions and the most jarring instincts. So if you turn into a griffon, for example, you won't immediately start pulling your feathers out because they feel weird in you, and you won't trip over your own paws because you don't know how to walk on them. You might get freaked out over having to eat meat or losing your cutie mark or not being able to fit in your clothes anymore, but that's all higher level stuff.
You're right about the magic and flying part, though. It takes time to learn skills like flight or how to do any magic more advanced than levitation, so anyone who gets transformed into a pegasus or unicorn is going to have to take some time learning the ropes. Unless you're a unicorn who doesn't do anything but levitation, and even then, chances are you're gonna be a little clumsy. I'm guessing earth pony magic is the same, but there isn't a lot of theory on that yet, so I don't think the results are in.
4290033 I've written a few stories on this website that involve transformations -- one in particular which postulates that a reverse transformation from pony to human proves to be painful -- and another story which postulates that teleportation turns out to be fairly painful as well.
If I had a choice to be a pony, my preference would be unicorn -- either mare or stallion -- simply because I'm fascinated with magic and its use, its properties and limitations, as well as thaumaturgy and its theoretical and practical applications. I suspect I have a lot in common with Twilight Sparkle in that regard, except I'm nowhere nearly as obsessed with reading and studying. Truthfully, I'd be interested in meeting her, but given how busy she is, I doubt such a meeting would be possible.
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Peach Spark says:
I'm guessing most humans would want to be unicorns if they got turned into ponies, partly because our magic is the most obvious, but mostly just because you wouldn't have hands anymore, and you'd miss being able to pick things up and turn them around with fine control. My friend Clear Airways--she can turn the pages of a book just fine with her wing or hoof, but watching her trying to put a book back on the bookshelf is kind of hilarious. If she uses her teeth, she misses and half the time gets it upside-down, and if she uses her hooves, she has to flap her wings to keep her balance and go really slow to get it right. Well, some pegasi and earth ponies are better at handling things than others, but we unicorns and humans are in another class when it comes to that.
But yeah, magic is interesting. I feel like its ultimate limitations are probably the same as the limits of our imaginations. Some people say "imagination has no limit," but really, it does--it's just that we can't imagine anything outside of it, which makes it harder to see. There's a limit to what our minds can conceive of--there has to be, because there's a limit to our minds. And for now, magical theory says some things are impossible, like permanently changing someone's cutie mark or bringing a dead person back to life, but I think in time even those will become possible--though maybe not desirable. I think magic and imagination come from the same wellspring.
There's a trio of unicorns in the Unicorn Range who live in a mountain rambler and turn ponies into other kinds of ponies for a day or an hour. You make an appointment and pay five hundred bits or more, and they transform you! That's something, huh? I don't know if it would work on humans, but I know it works on dragons, since Pepper's friend Grig saved up some gold and got himself transformed for two hours into a unicorn. He was giddy about it, and I guess a little sad afterward. Someday I want to see what it's like to have wings. I'll totally write a poem or five about it.
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Peach Spark says:
Even if I don't always understand what they're talking about on cable news, that doesn't mean it's meaningless. They wouldn't get away with just babbling on the air. They have to be talking about something, and it's got to be something that matters. For politics, mostly it's about how people feel, and I know that matters. If you look at other cultures or subcultures and see them talking about things you don't understand, thinking it's all meaningless is a really egocentric thing to do.
Are you kidding? The fanfics where Celestia and Luna are doing something ridiculous are the best ones!
And if Rainbow Dash is into some video game or Pinkie Pie has a secret crush on Discord or some nonsense like that, all the better! Why would we get upset about seeing our celebs being made fun of? Do humans get upset about your celebrities being spoofed in sketch comedy shows or cartoons or whatever? Don't say you do because I know that's not true.
Moreover, I read an interview with Celestia in which she said that yes, she's read fanfiction and seen fan art about herself, and on more than one occasion she's called Luna in (sometimes waking her up) to see it too. Her favorite was apparently some silly story where she goes on a diet and ends up starting a war in order to break it.
That could be! I mean, in a sense, it has to be. We're all characters in infinitely many stories from infinitely many other worlds, and there's an off chance that maybe maybe someday one or two of them might get in touch with us, or we might contact them. It doesn't worry me, though, any more than I 'm worried about having a long lost brother or something show up one day and tell me we have to go on a quest together. Why, does it worry you?
It would be weird if we did. The Book of Ferrets. Yeah, probably a reason for that.
I bet she would. Celestia is too reasonable to actually do that kind of thing, but I read about an ancient alicorn who lived thirty thousand years ago called Progresso who loved having weird parties in buildings filled with stuff, like jelly doughnuts or flowers or tubs full of pudding. So if you throw a Progresso-style cake party, Celestia will probably show up!
4295492 The prospect of being transformed sounds very enticing -- and if I had the money to spare, I'd totally do it, just for the sake of the experience. I postulate I'd probably enjoy being a pony, even if for no more than an hour or two, but I believe the experience is one that would truly be memorable. I admit to a great curiosity to see the world through a pony's eyes, to hear it through a pony's ears, to taste and touch -- and to see how fast I could gallop on all fours!
4296468
Peach Spark says:
Yeah, I can only imagine it's pretty lame not being able to move your ears. How did that evolve? But yeah, I think as transformation magic improves, it'll become more of a thing everyone does at least once. Imagine having a transformation honeymoon! Or, if you're really rich, a transformation wedding!
4296792 Those ideas sound interesting, but spending that much money on what I might consider frivolities -- well, let's just say that I've seen what some of my fellow humans spend on certain objects (perhaps for the sake of displaying contempt for money) and it makes me want to beg them to give me the tens of thousands of dollars they waste on such meaningless baubles so I can put my life back in order. I suppose it's wrong to waste so much of my time worrying about money, but I have certain obligations and there never seems to be enough money for me to meet them. Perhaps I need to budget my money more responsibly.
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Peach Spark says:
Nothing wrong with worrying about money. Money's what you need to live, and worrying about it is basically a stand-in for worrying about getting enough food and medicine and shelter, which is totally natural and even kind of fun if you look at it from the right way. Worrying about money is kind of satisfyingly animalistic. How am I going to feed myself this month? Where are my precious, life-affirming bits going to come from? I'm not so great with money myself, but I appreciate the sexiness of it.
Of course, all that assumes you're still at the level where you're just trying to get the essentials, plus a little extra fun here and there. That when you earn or save money, it means something to you more than itself. This money means a nice sandwich. This money means a day trip down the shore. This money means a new raincoat or a new book or a month's worth of rent! If you already have so much money that the only thing money means to you is money, or prestige, or victory, or conquest, then you're playing on a different level and I feel like you're actually missing out a little, since then your quest for more money is actually distancing you from the real world.
4299982 I'm with you on your opinion of those whose pursuit of money is an end in and of itself. Personally, I'd be satisfied if I made enough to cover all my expenses plus about five hundred dollars every paycheck to play around with -- and another five hundred to set aside as a retirement fund. That having been said, I guess I can consider myself lucky to have a job I enjoy doing which pays okay but not great -- but I'm also expecting a couple of financial obligations to be paid off in about a year, which should ease some of my concerns.
On another note, I'm curious to know if you might peruse my stories, though my writing skills aren't all that great.
4301411
Peach Spark says:
Sorry I didn't reply sooner, Mike the Red. I checked out your stories and it looks like they're all about this guy called Mike who gets transformed into every famous pony under the sun and doesn't know what to do about it. That's pretty weird. Also, for some reason he's a granddad. And everything seems to happen kind of casually, even the arguing, if that makes sense. Idunno... if there's any particular story you want me to read and anything you want my opinion on, let me know.
Five hundred dollars seems like plenty to play with, yeah, and most places on Earth don't have this high a cost of living. I'm lucky to have a job that's important and that I mainly like, even though I usually think of the blogging as my real job. Maybe because I'm the one in charge of it. Do you like your job?
4357344 Yeah, the stories are a bit much -- maybe I was trying too hard to write something people might like. That having been said, though, I actually like the job I have -- I only find myself wishing there were more hours in the day for me to pursue my other hobbies along with my job. I'd like to write more stories, but I seem to have hit some serious writer's block and can only put down a couple hundred words every so often.
To be honest, I sometimes wish I could go to Equestria and make a new life there.
4359748
Peach Spark says:
Yeah, having to work too much sucks. It's a problem a lot more common on your side than ours, partly because you have more competition and that drives up the amount of work everyone has to do, and partly because we've got a compassionate economy, which means if you're miserable with your job, you usually just have to have a tearful heart-to-heart with your employer and maybe have some sort of vocational adventure and learn a lesson and you'll probably be fine. There's less pressure at every level of the economy to have everything be perfectly efficient and shipshape. I guess you could try doing that, but it might not work since you're not in Equestria. I wish you could go make a new life there too.
So what do you want to write that you don't? If you're writing to please the people, I mean. What would you write to please yourself? And how come you're blocked? Are you just too tired and distracted, or is it something else?
4362426 Life on the Equestrian side of things sounds quite idyllic -- and maybe one day, perhaps my wish will be granted...
And as far as writing something to please myself, I have written a few things which border on that ("Waking Up With Twilight" comes to mind, though there was a second draft I was writing but found it a bit too extreme to publish on this site -- or at least, I don't want to put it here anyway).
Writer's block can take many forms -- I'd most likely have to say that my current living arrangements prevent me from writing as freely and as often as I'd like -- and I'm hoping to get out of my current predicament soon so I can have a bit more freedom to do the things I want. There are several elements of a few of my stories which border on autobiographical -- and I'll leave it at that.
Anyway, thanks again for replying. Hope to hear back soon.
4363377
Peach Spark says:
It's kind of funny--you want to stop living with someone before you can be comfy, and I wish I had a roommate to live with these days. I miss living with Pepper and that was years ago. I tried rooming with Second Sight for a while, but it turns out she's the kind of friend you don't want to overdose on. She can read your emotions, and sometimes it's just better for a couple of roomies to keep those to themselves. She's happier living alone anyway. I get guests now and then, though--ponies fresh from Equestria looking for a place to launch out from when they get here. They're excited to stay with a blogger they read and I'm excited to tell them all about the weird stuff Earth people do. But they don't usually stay more than a week.
So okay, I started reading "Waking Up With Twilight." It starts out with a guy who asks his car if he can sleep with Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Celestia is there in his car somehow and tells him "I cannot honor that request," as if it's up to Celestia who Twilight sleeps with. It'd be creepy if she did 'honor' that request! Then the guy promises to go to Celestia first before visiting Twilight. Great. So what's the first thing he does when he gets to bed? He makes a magic wish to be sleeping in Twilight's bed, and it happens. So now he's bypassed both Celestia and Twilight's permission. And somehow he's already met Twilight (I remember that from the first story) but she doesn't remember him now, so he has to explain everything again and wow, if she doesn't even know him, wishing to sleep with her is even creepier. So yeah, then this guy becomes a female pony? And Celestia extends his lifespan somehow? We don't actually know how to do that. And... oh good, there's vomiting. And then he seduces Luna! Great. Yeah, I think I'm good on this story.
Looks like this Mike has the same domestic unhappiness that you've got. So does that mean you really are a grandpa? You're one of the old bronies! Huh. I'd be okay with dating a dad, but I think dating a grandpa might be going a little far. Well, but on the other hand, I'm an open-minded person. Who knows. Sure, why not give it a try if you're in the area?
4364794 I'll have to admit -- I guess I shouldn't have recommended that story, considering it's more of a fantasy than anything else. Yeah, the woman I'm with has grand-children -- I'm 52 -- but being with her for so long has burned me out. It's a recurring theme in quite a few of my stories, which I will confess, serve as a vehicle to live vicariously in Equestria. I suppose if I'm lucky enough to be able to room with a pony, she'll be close to my age and be willing to accept my faults -- hopefully we'd have compatible personalities.
4364813
Peach Spark says:
Oh okay. Well, I'm in my early thirties, so I guess that's out. If I run across any fault-tolerant middle-aged mares hungry for some primate loving and/or cohabiting, I'll send them your way. Out of curiosity, is there anything not related to ponies in particular you feel the desire to write?
4364897 You ask an interesting question -- I created a few non-pony characters (human) that I have written about -- but I don't have a platform for them; perhaps I need to search for websites where I can write about my characters with complete freedom. I find Equestria to be quite fascinating, and I personally believe that a relationship with a pony would be a deeply enlightening and personality building experience -- not just for that, but to be able to experience a mutual friendship which can be built upon. I don't know the exact lifespan of you ponies -- I've heard it can be half again as long as human lifespans -- but I still believe a relationship with a pony might be better than my current situation.
Thanks again for such a quick response.
-Mike
4365262
Peach Spark says:
It's the same, actually! We live about eighty years if we're healthy, and sometimes over a hundred. The mortality curves for humans in well-off countries and Equestrian ponies are pretty much identical, which is another one of what the theory people call 'uncanny similarities' between our species. Same weight, same lifespan, same sensory capabilities. It makes you wonder if everyone we happen to meet through other worlds someday will be the same in those ways... or maybe have their own different uncanny similarities. More probably, though, it's because humans wanted the characters in their morality fantasy to be like them in most important ways so they didn't get distracted by the differences. And we happened to fit the bill!
You should probably hunt around on some of the interspecies dating sites I've seen popping up. There's more demand for it than most people expected or want to admit! I bet there are plenty of places you could share your writing. If you don't want to submit it to magazines or whatever, you could find a supportive forum or something. I hope something turns up!
4365899 The similarities between ponies and humans seem to be uncanny...
I'm curious to visit interspecies sites -- hopefully they'll become a reality on this side before too much longer. I'd be thrilled to go on a date with a pony, despite what anyone would think about seeing a human/pony couple enjoying each other's company.
As far as my writing goes, I've said before that between my job and my pastimes, I don't have much time for it anymore -- there was a time a few years ago where I enjoyed writing (my "Why Did I Choose to Be Trixie?" story is an epic which took 14 months to write) but I can't do anything like that these days.
Hello, Peach Spark.
It has been a long time since you got this blog going, so how is life going in general?
I would like to ask what would you do if you discovered that like the characters from the show, someone had written your story. Would you like to meet him or her? What would you tell or ask him or her?
Also, on a less philosophical side (or not, who knows!) I think you mentioned something about the Portal universe, and you know what George thinks about random portals so... I would like to share a random thought... I would like to make George play Portal without giving him a clue about what the game is about, except that it is about portals, and watch how he reacts.
4366776
Peach Spark says:
Hey Mike, sorry I didn't get back to you for forever. So if you did get to go on a date with me, or with some other mare... where would you take me? If we can't actually do it, at least we can imagine, right?
4756048
If in Equestria, I'd ask you what restaurant you like and take you there -- if here on Earth, I'd ask what kind of food you'd like and pick a suitable restaurant here. If we had time to kill before then, I'd like to walk through a park in Equestria and observe other ponies -- and probably ask if you knew them. If here, I'd show you around town if time permitted -- most likely offering you a ride in my car (if you're okay with that).
I strive to be a gentleman, but sometimes fall short. My heart is in the right place, though -- and I feel I'd be completely comfortable with having a marefriend. More than that, though, I'd most likely want to make a new life for myself in Equestria.
4756831
Peach Spark says:
I believe you that you'd like to have a marefriend! And maybe there's one out there for you. But if you want to win someone over, human or equine, you've gotta have stuff going on! Maybe she wants you to pick the place to eat--don't be afraid to show some initiative! I'd be fine getting a tour of town, and I'm guessing whoever you date would feel the same way. I hope you do get to visit my homeland someday! It seems like I'm probably not the one for you, though. You probably need someone quieter and sweeter. Thanks for reading, though!
4757649
Thank you -- I hope to make my dream a reality some day -- hopefully before I pass away from this world (or maybe my afterlife will be in Equestria -- I can always hope...)
4758176
Peach Spark says:
Are our afterlives allowed to be in places we can go to in real life? I think maybe there's a quantum law against that. Sorry, I don't mean to be a downer--maybe after we die we go to new levels of the world no one else gets to go to, and if we were good, they're better versions, and if we were bad, they're worse? To be honest, I don't remember ever seeing any convincing reason to think any afterlife exists, but it's kind of like the connection between our worlds--neither of us thought the other world existed until we met each other, except in our imaginations. So the moral seems to be--don't discount imagination!
4758498
You raise an interesting conundrum -- I may now actually subscribe to the idea of the afterlife -- but that may be wishful thinking on my part. In any case, I'm trying to atone for my past in an attempt to balance the karmic scale. I can only hope I succeed in doing more good than bad and that when my time comes, I won't be judged too harshly. I think my opinion might be colored by some of the fanfics I have read, or some of the movies I've watched.