Crowd-sourcing a fic · 9:24pm Apr 17th, 2017
Y'know what, y'know what
Fuck writing a ranty journal about hating the show. There's too much negativity in the fandom, not to mention the world. I'm gonna channel that anger into doing better. >:B For that, I need your help! Come, journey to the long-long-ago of season two, and help me plot this damn thing out!
Title: There Never Was a Pot of Gold
General concept: Rainbow is the child of the Cloudsdale elite, and her parents are finally sick of her gallivanting around mudpony towns and consorting with those awful Wonderbolts. It's time for Rainbow to come home.
Notes: Before we get actual Rainbow Parents, I want to write out my vision of them, not because it will be better, but because I've needed to do this for a long time. But the idea needs work. So here's what I got.
Rainbow ran away from home a long time ago because her parents did not approve of her rough-and-tumble interests, especially not the Wonderbolts, who they consider "no better than circus clowns". (Flight is not for sport, you see; it is a mark of the pegasus' inherent superiority over other ponies.) Her dad owns the Cloudsdale Weather Factory, which is of course how she got her friends in to take a tour back during Sonic Rainboom; this was also the event that got her parents attention focused back on her. Skip ahead a year -- this will likely take place in season four -- and they've finally tracked her down.
Things start out with Rainbow asking Twilight to hide her. This, of course, doesn't work well, and she gets dragged back to Cloudsdale to be made a proper lady out of, to her friends' dismay (and Rarity's distinct indecision on the matter). There is possibly an arranged marriage to be performed.
The original concept for the ending was Rainbow saving the Weather Factory from some kind of disaster with the Wonderbolts' aid. The conclusion isn't her parents accepting them, but Rainbow realizing that she doesn't have to choose between her dreams and her friends/family. If that sounds somewhat disconnected from the rest of the story so far, congrats, you understand why I'm writing this. Wonderbolts Academy kind of changes this up, too. Also of note is the "Rainbow Dad" character from Games Ponies Play's flashback is actually her black sheep uncle, who would steal her away when she was little and take her to Wonderbolts shows under her parents' noses.
So, yeah, not much of a story, all told. I want to go episode-like, so three-act, but I have a distinct lack of ideas about where to take any particular scene. For instance, the reason she finally relents and goes back home with her parents is the reveal that her grandmother died while she was off pursuing her own interests, and a guilt trip that stems from that. But, uh, I ain't sure that's a great idea. It certainly isn't show-tone!
So, I dunno, talk at me, throw ideas out, let's workshop this, right here in my bloggo. :B
Looks like a cool idea but I can't write...
I am pretty sure I have read something very, very similar recently, but I can't quite place it.
Why did you never do this for my contest I ran so long ago?
~Skeeter The Lurker
Maybe I shouldn't have alluded to that episode being Newbie Dash 2.0 in your Season 7 blog.
Anyway, I think you have the groundwork for what should be an interesting drama. I think the connecting thread between what you've already planned out and the ending boils down to the Weather Factory. Since Rainbow's father owns that factory, and since she and the other Wonderbolts save it at the end of the story, there could be some foreshadowing sprinkled throughout the story that suggests the factory isn't the best maintained thing in the world, which sets up part of the climax. The rest of the story could focus on the relationship between the characters, namely how Rainbow and those around her grow and change over time. As for the ending, Rainbow's parents could reluctantly accept where she's going in life, but without necessarily doing a complete 180. That way, it gets to the same point, but it ties up some loose ends better.
Sorry if my suggestions aren't what you'd call brilliant, as I wouldn't call myself a skilled writer. However, I do hope that some of them prove useful, and I wish you the best of luck on all of your future projects!
I approve!
Its always a good idea to build up what you love rather than attack what you hate!
I look forward to reading what already looks like a great story :)
Start by deciding if there is an arranged marriage. Depending on how maliciously you want to treat Fluttershy's parents as well, you could have them be elitist sympathizers with a big amount of political clout, and the arranged marriage is to Zephyr Breeze, who's blissfully unaware of the disquieting politics of Cloudsdale.
At least one scene where the parents look down on the concept of weather control as a mundane part of life, since it used to be both the primary weapon in any pegasus siege and was their race's best form of leverage for domination.
I'd suggest resisting the temptation to use Commander Hurricane as a figure of great respect in their eyes, as the fact that he allowed the peace between the races to be brokered would be a source of shame and also a fun reversal of Hurricane being used as the poster boy for pegasus supremacy.
Casual tribalism that doesn't seem maliciously targeted could be a great tool in making Rainbow's parents unsympathetic without turning them into total Nazis. Things like being surprisingly fine with Rainbow's friends being her bridesmaids, but using words like 'slave', 'servant' or 'these poor misguided fillies who think you're worth worshiping'. Twilight Sparkle being a bit of a paradox where their prejudices are concerned would be very interesting, though I'd probably avoid more than a few snipes about Celestia.
If you go with the arranged marriage plot, the grandma doesn't have to die. She can be very clearly implied to be dying, and Rainbow's parents can put words in her mouth about wanting to see her grand-child married off right.
As for the climax that 'liberates' Rainbow, Scootaloo. RD invites Scoots to the wedding as a flower girl, figuring that at least one pony should be happy today, and frictions quickly ensue about inviting a cripple back up to Cloudsdale. Finally pushed past the point of tolerance by all this, RD goes on a massive rant, and when all goes silent the until-now-silent grandmother speaks up in approval of Rainbow's decision and lifestyle.
And Zephyr Breeze is just left by the altar, smiling vacantly.
Hmm. How aware are Dash's parents of what she's been doing in that mudpony town? You know, the whole thwarting gods/saving lost empires/becoming a poorly recognized national hero thing. How do they react to her being besties with the then-newest alicorn? Season 4 may actually be the best time to set this, since it's at that awkward point where it was possible that the Mane Six were no longer necessary for national defense, but does she at least try to bring up that she's kind of needed elsewhere? How do they feel about the Rainboom, especially the one at the Best Young Fliers Competition? An exemplary demonstration of the power of the pegasi, or an unforgivably gaudy display, even if it saved lives? (Besides, it was three clowns and a unicorn. No great loss.)
Indeed, hashing out their personal philosophy about why pegasi are superior could do a lot to explain both their outlook and the foundation of Dash's own attitude, even if she tried to shrug off as much of that part of her upbringing as she could.
And, of course, there's how the loyalest pony in Equestria deals with having those loyalties divided. Sure, she ran away from home, but these are still her parents. There's likely going to be some degree of knee-jerk filial piety. In order for that conclusion to pay off, we'll need to see some serious internal conflict on Dash's part, which should be especially interesting given how introspection really isn't her thing. It's definitely going to end in something that can be done only by Dash as she is rather than as her parents want her to be.
Is any of this helpful, or am I just projecting my need to know superfluous minutae?
4499923
I'm bad at doing things, haven't you heard? :B Also, which contest? Maybe there's a good reason...
4499929
Oh my god, you are evil and I love it.
I realized I could get away with setting this post-S3 because Twilight isn't a "proper" princess. They've never heard of her, after all. Why, she doesn't even live in a palace? Whoever heard of a princess that doesn't live in a palace?
4500008
Nono, this is good. :3
Eh, I don't like it.
I don't think Dash would put up with that. Even with the dead grandma thing, if her parents were that elitist, she'd tell them to shove off. More than that, are they SO elitist that they don't care she's a national hero, best friends with royalty, on first name basis with both diarchs, etc? If so, they're a parody, not characters.
Now, if they somehow got the royalty to put pressure on Dash...
4500064
No one cares they're national heroes, certainly not back in season 4. It wasn't until last season we really started to see that crop up...
And if Dash doesn't put up with it, well, there's no story, is there?
4500202
Well, if the only way for your story to work is if one of the characters is out of character, then that's a problem, isn't it?
And discounting the "national heroes" bit, she still cavorts with royalty. Can't ask for a better pedigree than that. Now, it could be argued that Dash would be too proud to ask for royal help, but when being forced to give up everything she cares for and the career she has worked for her whole life?
But even then, would her elitist parents, who apparently care so much for appearances that they would force their daughter to abandon everything she cares about so she could be "proper," really do something that would most certainly earn the ire of not just Twilight, but ALL the Princesses?
Maybe swing it around:
Twilight becoming a princess is the catalyst that makes the parents seek out Rainbow Dash and try to smooth things over with her. Their daughter is besties with Equestria's Newest Princess, after all, and they can hold that over the heads of all the other ponies in their social group. Rainbow has always secretly craved her parents' acceptance and so fools herself into thinking that they've changed, so when the parents ask Rainbow to invite Twilight to the estate of the weekend, she of course invites all the other girls and Spike, too. Shenanigans ensue.
In the end, you could either have something happen to make the parents realize that they've been wrong all these years about non-pegasi, or you could have Rainbow realize that her parents are never going to change and she once and for all cuts off ties to them.
Mike
Maybe granny rainbow is easily confused these days and has wandered off, and Dash is needed to help find her. Because they can't ask the authorities for help. That would be shameful. Gotta keep Gran's condition a secret.
Maybe the condition is a fake, so Granny can get away from her overbearing son, sometimes.
At one point, Dashie could say something like, "you'd think Dad would appreciate me saving the world a little more, since that's where he keeps all his stuff."
4500038
Can her dad be pegasus Rockefeller? If yes, can there be a quick exchange with Twilight about Dash's dad being the inspiration for the guy on monopoly box and that's why Dash never wants to play monopoly with her?
4500567
As if anyone needs a reason not to play Monopoly with someone.
This sounds like an excellent idea, and I would happily pre-read it for you, as I'm sure many others would
Some random ideas:
- Maybe grandma used to be one of little Rainbow's flying buddies, but now grandma is so old she can barely get off the clouds and Rainbow is crushed by how much special fly-with-grandma time she's lost.
- I kind of hope the pegasi definition of 'proper lady' is unexpected and repulsive to Rarity, partly so there's zero chance of her being conflicted over this whole turn of events
- I also hope that if there's an arranged marriage involved, that Rainbow's prospective hubby isn't a stereotypical jerk/idiot/non-desireable but she just doesn't have any chemistry with him
- If you want to dodge the obvious moral of her parents realizing they've been wrong, Rainbow could turn it around and stand up for her life choices to their faces rather than running away from them like she did before; the point being that she forces the point that they're going to agree to disagree, which doesn't mean she doesn't love them (and to her relief, doesn't mean they don't love her)
4501587
I definitely want to have the prospective stallion hate the situation just as much as Rainbow.
...If this were a shipfic, they would realize how much they have in common and fly off to get married on their own terms. >.> This is not a shipfic.