First (horrible) impressions aren't lasting: bad initial meetings of the Mane Cast? (Writer's mini-workshop.) · 7:38pm Apr 6th, 2017
At the very end of Cut, Color, Carat, Clarity (now being loathed by critics everywhere!), Pinkie alluded to the first time she met Fluttershy in 'verse. And it's suggested -- okay, fairly plainly stated -- that it didn't go well. In fact, at least for that stage of their local lives, it was hard for me to see any way it could have gone well. A pony who's steadily pushing herself into becoming the settled zone's biggest, loudest extrovert meets an introvert who's still at the stage where on her best days, it can still take Fluttershy half a minute just to say hello -- and she may say it three times, with steadily decreasing volume projected over a rapidly increasing distance. According to Pinkie, it ended with Fluttershy having retreated into the cottage and hiding under her couch, and it also gave me that idea that Fluttershy may be one of the few ponies for whom Pinkie never hosted a welcoming party. If the initial meeting went that badly, then Pinkie would have quickly understood that surrounding Fluttershy with dozens of ponies she'd never met might have ended with a permanently-vacated cottage.
In canon, everypony was at least curious enough about and friendly to Twilight on first meeting that they wanted to try hanging out with her some more, with a save-the-sixth assist from Spike. But that status wasn't necessarily universal for the original mutual introductions among the other five.
I'm tempted to show Rainbow's first day on the Ponyville weather job as A Series Of Unfortunate Egotistical Events (is that a prospective story title?) which almost makes it into her only day on the job, including systematically offending one or more of her future friends. Rainbow's a pony who can very easily rub somepony the wrong way in well under ten seconds: locally, is there any realistic way she didn't get off to a bad start?
Rarity and Applejack... the 'verse versions were not friends before the Celebration: they weren't exactly enemies, but they didn't understand each other and neither could generally be bothered to try. (I mentioned one temporary alliance of necessity in their primary school years, and a few comment upvotes asked about that story.) Applejack and Fluttershy? AJ's said that Fluttershy felt like kin at their first meeting, so we're probably all right there. But AJ and Rainbow? The one who tells it like it is (or at least how she sees it) vs. the born braggart: something almost has to go wrong. Fluttershy and Rarity? The linked story ends with the suggestion that she'll be going to the cottage and wind up adopting Opal -- but how smooth a meeting was that?
They're all friends now. But in canon or within your own writing/beliefs, were they friends at the start? Could there have been misunderstandings? Rivalries? A brief (or not so brief) period of Kick On Sight?
How do you see it?
And how many stories can you perceive within?
Cue Rainbow having to write "I shall not put stormclouds over the houses of ponies i don't like" a thousand times.
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Even in the current day, the local weather map contains several suspicious-looking designated lightning strike zones around Thistle Burr's house.
Rainbow is the sort of pony who can be absolutely trusted with power, as long as somepony with considerably more power is looking over her shoulder at all times.
ETA: The line writing may be funnier if you picture her having to skywrite all of it for public viewing.
Estee, from here on out, in my minds eye you have an aspect of the picture below about you. After all, you're behind all the unfortunate events, aren't you?
You are the Count Olaf of Fimfiction.
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/snicket/images/8/85/Count_Olaf_%28TVV%29.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/240/height/240?cb=20080120033341
I never really thought about it, but there's all sorts of great story material there. Someone else will probably have to write it though.
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Urge to ban... rising...
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Oh Estee, only in your stories are ponies as nasty as people are in Lemony Snickets work. Only in your works are there a core of the moderately sane and intelligent, surrounded by the brainless and pompous, while being hunted by the cruel, cunning, and arrogant. Of course, you're funnier. And sometimes your characters lapse in terms of sane.
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Becoming... furious!
Hmm. Not a question I've asked myself, to be honest. I do think that the Rainbow-Pinkie encounter would easily outdo all of Dash's other first impressions in terms of how the other pony felt afterwards. Though given how Dash had no idea about Pinkie's pranking until Gilda's visit, it's likely that she avoided the party pony prior to Nightmare Moon's return. I think the best mental label Pinkie could hope for would be "Too weird; watch, point, and laugh from a distance."
Still, the characters' pasts just don't seem to interest me much. I'm not saying there isn't rich fodder to be had there, but thinking about the story potential leaves me oddly indifferent. I leave that fertile ground to those more eager to sow it.
I just ate a piece of candy which had been described to me as "a gourmet gummy bear."
The lesson here is that when someone tells you there is such a thing as a gourmet gummy bear, they are lying.
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Could have been worse, it could have been Haribo sugar free gummy bears. I personally find the reviews hilarious, but YMMV.
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As far as initial meetings go, I'm kinda with FOME on that it's not personally super interesting to me so I haven't given it a lot of thought. I do think Rainbow got Rarity with a couple cloud soak pranks before realizing how dangerous a sufficiently motivated unicorn could be though.
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Oh, I'm fully familiar with the Nuclear Bowel Bears -- and thankfully, that's not through personal consumption. (For the newbies: don't just follow the link. Read through the rest of the one-star reviews, then do a Google search. Comedy (as in 'someone else's tragedy') gold!) I did debate the dubious merits of buying a bag for someone I really didn't like, but since I had no way of knowing if they would react to the chemicals...
However, in this case, I just had this, in S'more flavor: a light milk chocolate coating over what they're delusional enough to describe as a marshmallow-graham gummy. It isn't. The flavor is slightly closer to milk chocolate covered baby shampoo.
As for the Nuclear Bowel Bears...
Have a link.
Videos also exist. Watch at your own risk.
Except for this one. Which is still at your own risk, but it's also one of the rarest things in comedy: funny (subjectively) toilet humor.
Rarity and AJ are an interesting pair. For starters, they're the only Ponyville natives, and likely have at least known about each other since they were little. For another, they're the entrepreneurs among the Mane Six, with all that implies about shared and divergent experiences. For third... well, AJ ran away when she was young, found out it wasn't for her, came back, and has essentially doubled down on her family, Ponyville, and being a down-to-earth country pony. Whereas so much about Rarity is based on her attempts to escape her small-town background, tacky family, and so on, starting with her fake accent. Can you imagine what young Rares would have given for the chance to go live the life of a young socialite, with rich and fancy relatives, in Manehattan? And Applejack had all that, and turned her back on it!
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Huh, those look like the exact kind of thing your eyes glaze over when grocery shopping. And milk chocolate baby shampoo is like the worst flavor I imagine and I once had a puke-flavored Bernie Bott's Every Flavor bean.
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Which directly leads to her having to skywrite, "I shall not rearrange clouds so they look like rude words". Ten thousand times.
About AJ and Rainbow, I imagine their first meeting as when Scrooge McDucks sister Hortence met her future husband Quackmore. Their reason to fall in love was that both had the same terrible temper and thro tantrums whenever something went wrong. And yes, they are Donalds parents.
The two most competetive ponies around? That can only end in friendship.
Well, canonically, we know:
Rarity and Applejack weren't full friends until Twilight's sleepover in season 1.
Rainbow Dash seemed to find Pinkie Pie annoying and someone to run away from, not someone to hang out with, at the start of Griffin the Brushoff, which was also in season 1.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were childhood friends - the degree to which that relationship made it into season 1 is debatable. Was Rainbow Dash's annoyance at Fluttershy in Dragonshy because they weren't great friends at that point, or because Rainbow Dash was just being her usual self? It is worth remembering that Rainbow Dash did go off to watch the butterfly migration with Fluttershy by season 2, which seems like it would be super boring to Rainbow Dash, but she did it anyway, which suggests perhaps that Rainbow Dash, for all her complaining, really does love Fluttershy deep down inside.
We know that Applejack was familiar with Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense and trusted it.
We know that Rarity and Fluttershy hung out at the spa even in season 1, so it is easy to extrapolate that backwards in time - plus the two do seem close.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack hung out and played games together on their own in season 1, which again suggests to me a pre-existing friendship/rivalry.
Personally, I think that all of the mane six were at least acquainted with each other before the show, and that a number of them were already friends, but many were not as close of friends until Twilight came along. But there were probably a few strong friendships between them already.
On the other hand, it is possible that they were all buds and sort of drew Twilight into their pre-existing friendship circle, and that the ones who didn't get along well were just the... you know, friends who don't get along well (or at least, mutual friends drug them together all the time).
You seem to be suggesting that Pinkie + Fluttershy's meeting was sort of like A Friend In Deed (S2 E18) with Fluttershy as Cranky. But, wouldn't Pinkie have learned her lesson from meeting Fluttershy? I know you split from the show after S3, but in Pinkie Pride (S4 E12), Pinkie has to be TOLD that it is Dash's birthday This suggests that she started her birthday party & welcome party traditions AFTER Dash got to town. Also, even in a town as small as Ponyville (IMO, more of village, really) someone probably has a birthday every day. Pinkie must have some method of choosing which ones to celebrate.
As to Pinkie & Fluttershy's meeting, no clear ideas of my own. I just have 2 images
Fluttershy freaking out & running off to die under her bed. Pinkie is already down there & says "Boy, it's dark under here!" Fluttershy explodes out from under her bed & runs off screaming
Fluttershy is brave when standing up for her animal friends. I see Angel Bunny kicking the crap out of Pinkie. Fluttershy "rescues" Angel Bunny & scolds Pinkie. "It's one thing to scare me, but how DARE you terrorize this poor, innocent Bunny?" Rabbit mating season is March & they can get strange then (Hence the character of March Hare in Alice in Wonderland)
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She avoided her afterwards too. The prelude of them pranking together was Pinkie pepé-hop-stalking Rainbow Dash. That was during the time when Rainbow lacked direction in her life—all directions: Her plans to join the Wonderbolts were pipe dreams, she blew off her friends so she could laze about and nap, and she crashed more than she landed.
Without her friends giving her the push to better herself in the right way, Rainbow would've ended up a failure.
I can see Pinkie and Fluttershy meeting disastrously, but i also have an adorable mental image of Fluttershy finding a pile of supplies in front of her door as an apology, so she can throw her own.
Whether Pinkie's in the bushes with binoculars waiting to see if she enjoys herself is separate.
Well, thinking about possible first meetings...
Fluttershy does open up more as soon as pets are involved. Rarity has one hoof in the door once Fluttershy understands that's what she's looking for. Then there's the fact that Rarity can be poised and respectful (that's more or less her default setting), plus she's been warned by Pinkie, so she's well-armed to proceed with the caution needed not to spook the shy Pegasus. And Rarity just tasted a healthy dose of New And Terrifying when she went to Canterlot.
Lastly, we know Fluttershy is considered at least somewhat attractive in canon; a demure kind of lovelyness in contrast to Rarity's weaponised beauty. And we know Fluttershy will go to the spa with her eventually. So, what if Rarity at some point broke the ice with a makeover? A private one, just for the two of them? Fluttershy may not like the spotlight, but she does want to be liked and loved. If she can look at her reflection and smile, that's already a big win.
Regarding Pinkie and Rainbow Dash: For most of the time, Rainbow was more or less out of Pinkie's reach. She lives in a cloud mansion (by the way, her parents must be loaded! Also explains how she can get away with as little actual work as she does) and she hardly spends time on the ground. Pinkie probably figured she'd reel her in eventually. Also, there are at least two occasions I can name off the top of my head where Pinkie gushed about Rainbow's flying skills (neither case had the other party actually listening, but...). Pinkie's probably totally impressed with her.
Pinkie and Fluttershy... after trying her patented I'm-In-Your-Face-Say-Hi-approach triggered Fluttershy's squeak-and-flight response, it's possible Pinkie categorised Fluttershy somewhere between "pretty pony" and "spooked animal". Also, she has a near-Fluttershy back home in the form of Marble, which also explains why she treats Fluttershy like a kid sister when she (Fluttershy) is actually older. Marble takes Pinkie's overbearing personality because she used to it. It must've been difficult for Pinkie to switch gears.
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You know those "optical illusion" photos that look like a random collection of lines painted about a room that turn into a shape when viewed from a certain angle?
Something like:
I imagine her doing something similar with the clouds that are around Thistle Burr's house.
I think it scans better as just "A Series of Egotistical Events", and I think it still reads as the correct parody that way.
I don't think I said, but I would also be interested in your "Origin of Friendship" stories for the rest of the combinations of the six not covered in the pilot. (I'm also interested in seeing someone a good interpretation of what might happen if Moon( )dancer -- written as we now know she is -- visited Ponyville and met the other four. (Not to say that any existing ones are bad; I just haven't seen any to know.)
4486437 Maybe they should leave things like that to companies like Gimball's and Jelly Belly.
4486551 Hmm. Well, you could say that she realized that adult dragons, while awesome from a distance, are pretty scary to the average pony, and this is Fluttershy. Rainbow can easily see her slowing them down considerably --and even she didn't seem to predict some of the problems -- while she wants to get there, get 'er done, and get out. So she's really irritated that she's forced to go at the pace of The Load on the word of Twilight that they'll need her talent to succeed.
Incidentally, I can see that being why she was being so pushy in "Dragon Quest": "You made one cry, and its eyeball was bigger than you! This shouldn't be a problem!" It wouldn't be the last time Rainbow misjudged her ability to mentally handle something ("28 Pranks Later", anyone?).
One minor Head Canon
Fluttershy spends so much time under her bed, she has it fixed up as a minnie apartment within her home. Blankie, pillows, bottled water, snacks
Daily, Fluttershy thanked Celestia that some of the most horrific monsters in Equestria lived outside her door. She considered them her dearest friends -they kept most ponies from bothering her
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Well, not necessarily. Think about it -- clouds are essentially "free" construction material if you're a pegasus (especially one living next to a wild zone where clouds just form on their own anyway), and since your "neighborhood" is a three-dimensional space that extends anywhere from slightly above rooftop level to whatever altitude you can still breathe comfortably, finding an "empty lot" to build on is pretty trivial as well. I would also expect that a house built out of clouds would be pretty easy to renovate -- no need for heavy construction/destruction equipment; if you need to add a room, just attach the new room's cloud-walls to the outside of an existing wall, then dispel the enchantment on a section of the wall to dissipate it and form a doorway. So, the size of a cloud house is probably limited mostly by how much effort you feel like putting into it (or paying a cloud-sculptor to put into it for you); Rainbow could have started off with a single-bedroom "cloud starter home" and just kept adding on to it every time she needed more space for her trophies and her Wonderbolts merchandise collection.
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Now you've made me picture Allie Way with some heavy eyeliner as The Bowler.
Worth it!
That said, I'm fairly sure that the only first meeting among the Mane 6 that went well for Dash might have been meeting Pinkie. Unless they met after AJ already had Dash ruffled.
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Well, no Griffon the Brush Off is pretty clear. Before the pilot, Pinkie & Dash did NOT get on well together. Super Speedy ... 6000 hints at one reason when Dash complains that Pinkie "always gets all the cider" & never leaves any for her.
I've always imagined the five as simply moving in different social circles before Twilight arrived. The first season was about getting to know each other as much as it was getting to know Twilight.
I am imagining a furious Thistle Burr, an irritated Mayor, and a disinterested senior weather coordinator standing around watching Rainbow form clouds into the lines above them.
By Staremaster, Rarity & Fluttershy are good enough friends that Rarity trusts her to babysit the Crusaders. By the time of Green Isn’t Your Color, Rarity & Fluttershy are close enough to have a regular spa day. This implies that they were close friends before the pilot.
Describes AJ & Dash perfectly. They both think of themselves as “Ponyville’s best athlete” & are fiercely competitive