No relationship is perfect · 1:10pm May 1st, 2017
This is a fundamental fact of life, and it's been bugging me. In what's been posted and what has been written but yet to be posted, I have noted that Thomas' relationships with the mares, especially Moonlight, is a little too squeaky clean. I attribute this partially to the fact that, because of my own autism, I really haven't had that many friendships and most of the time we just managed to part ways before getting on each other's nerves. Thomas and Moonlight, however, see each other 24/7. They HAVE to do something that annoys the other by then.
Normally I don't like writing such conflicts. In fact, whenever they crop up in my early drafts, I usually scrub them because they can go a little too dark and hurtful. However, that is just a fact of life that sometimes people can be dicks to each other without really meaning to.
So, as per usual, I am reaching out to my readers to help me overcome this writer's block. What is a thing Thomas and Moonlight could fight about? What are usual roommate quarrels about?
ok after 27 years on being marred (divorced now woo hoo) I can say it is the stupidest things.
TP on the hanger the wrong way.
how you fold close.
don't prop your feet up.
don't set your beer on the coffee table.
rinse your plant off don't just throw it in the sink.
the more petty it sounds the better.
I caught my x running around with a friend. I know this sounds strange but I thanked him. as she was just a total butch and now he understands lol I hope they drive each other nuts.
I've never been in a relationship, myself, but I'd say it would also depend on how long they've been in one, officially, and how much time has passed since they started living together.
If you're going to go for just a basic conflict in the relationship, probably Moonlight, being a guard could try and push him to his limits during one of their trips to the gym and he can have a bit of a snap at her.
If you want roommate conflict, go for a habit. Maybe one of them refuses to wash dishes, or leaves clothes or shoes somewhere or spends too long in the bathroom (and I mean that as in shower/bath and basin side, not the toilet).
4515647 Oh yeah, these definitely apply here too, but when my sister visits to help me with the things I can't do in a wheelchair.
Not sure how well that would apply to Thomas and Moon. How about:
-"You have more posters on the wall than me",
-"Why didn't you say we were almost out of *such or such* ",
-"What from Tartarus are you cooking, that stinks?",
-"You were supposed to mail those letters for me yesterday, now I'll miss the deadline for the competition to
win a months subscription to *sumtin or other* magazine."
-"You told the neighbours/your friends what about us??"
Here's a good one
-"I want a puppy!"
"But I want a cat."
"Well we can't have both they'll just fight."
"How do you know, ones I've had before got on well together....usually."
4515684
yep all vary good ones.
but lets not forget, how can you watch MLP that is for little girls.
4515691 The stupid part is I actually get that from my sister, back in the 80's though she was the pony mad one and had a collection of G1 figures.
Edit: Maybe Moon has a collection of figurines Thomas doesn't like, handsome famous Guardsponies? So he gets a set of Elements of Harmony figurines.? IDK that might be pushing it a bit silly for his age.
4515697
at one point I hade around 300 G1 figures, I am sad to say they ware lost to a fire at the storage facility about 10 years ago.
4515647 I like these.
4515652 I can see these.
4515684 Definitely some potential in these.
Maybe they could dissagree about what stuff they want to do? It could be anything from going to see an opra (the performance, not the woman) or maybe what fetishes they want to try out. It doesn't have to be a serious arguement, right? So the problem and consequences don't have to be long lasting!
4515697 Figurines of various monsters found in Equestria? Like a Hydra, a Manticore, A Chimera, an Ursa, possibly other constellation monsters?
Perhaps some cultural subtleties that are different for the two parties? You could turn it into a minor skirmish and a culture lesson.
Perhaps Moonlight could ask about... where he leaves his underwear?
I'm in the same boat as you, man, and all the good stuff comes to me after the fact.
4515785 I'm actually looking for all kinds of quarrels: minor disagreements, long term annoying habits that build frustration, or even heated arguments over things both parties have strong feelings over.
4515829 I've already kinda been doing that with little moments of cultural confusion here and there, though a lot of that was more internal fretting than any kind of argument.
Also, Thomas doesn't have underwear. He just uses the loincloth.
Living with someone is about respecting each other's boundaries and dividing up the responsibilities. You could write how overbearing Moonlight is getting with their writing as Moonlight would regularly add ideas that Thomas doesn't agree with at all. Neither Thomas or Moonlight strike me as the sloppy character that would keep their room dirty. So they could have a disagreement about where furniture should go. Thomas could also feel like Moonlight is getting too clingy and try to shrug her away.
Or you can pan out the human culture vs. pony culture deal. You already established that mares do everything guys suppose to do so Moonlight could step in when to do something for Thomas when Thomas himself wanted to do something for her. Then Moonlight would try to use her alpha mare status to try to cow Thomas into her way of thinking. The whole herd system seems design to reign the male into a submissive state. And even if Thomas is docile, he's still a man. Men don't always like to be boss around.
4516135 An interesting observation and scenario. While I agree that in this world it is the males who are the more submissive sex, I'm curious what makes you say the herd is designed to bring this about?
4516148 Normally, a herd, would have one alpha that leads the rest. That alpha makes the decision that works best with the pack as a whole. In a standard pack, there might be a set ratio between the males and females (with the male rates slightly higher). In Equestria, it would be one male and multiple females. Which means one male has to contend with multiple women when it comes to decision making. And that man would mostly lose the majority of the time whenever they came to a vote.
While Moonlight is the alpha, Thomas hangs around women that typically boss him around. Each female has that tendency and instinct to protect the herd with the alpha getting the final say. Plus, it's hard for a guy to win an argument with a woman( Not to be sexist of course. Nine times out of ten, my sister wins any argument we have with each other.) The more humble the guy is then, the more he'll get bossed around. Everything is right between Thomas and his girls at the moment, but their natural instinct could take over at any time.
4516190 A fascinating prospect.
I have been married for 10 years and my father taught me everything I know about maintaining a happy relationship. Everyone expresses love diffrently, to simplify their are 5 different love languages.
Words of Affirmation: Expressing affection through spoken affection, praise, or appreciation.
Acts of Service: Actions, rather than words, are used to show and receive love.
Receiving Gifts: Gifting is symbolic of love and affection.
Quality Time: Expressing affection with undivided, undistracted attention.
Physical Touch: It can be sex or holding hands. With this love language, the speaker feels affection through physical touch.
Each of these expressions of love have different values to different people. One spouse might get more out of quality time with the other while the other seems giving gifts as a better form of expression. So if one spouse is always working to earn money to buy things for a spouse that prefers quality time. The effort is wasted and under appreciated. Most couples have problems like this. A general failure to comunicate.
4516311 Oh. This is very nice.
I would like to think that after a long while with always being in each other's company, Thomas and Moonlight (mostly Thomas) will start to get irritated with each other due to the constant culture clashes. Both have been to raised to be the dominate/provider/protector in the relationship, and eventually a conflict will happen and both their instincts tell them to protect their lover but said lover is always happy with that. I can see them arguing over "I'm suppose to protect you!" "No! I'm suppose to protect YOU!"
And I can also see Thomas getting fed up of the whole "Herd" thing. He's been raised since birth to accept only one lover, but Moonlight, in spite of her good intentions, will insist Thomas to find more mares for the Herd, but Thomas feels that Luna and Silver are more than enough for the Herd.
This is just what I think. Hope it helps.
4516986 I don't see Thomas ever getting "fed up" with the herd. It might bother him at points, but he seems to be getting on well with all the ladies he's currently surrounded with.
4517095 Again, it was just a thought.
4515888 Oh I'm sorry, loincloth, like that's much better. Just think, though. She might be a little miffed he left his loincloth somewhere that simply isn't okay, even if it was an accident.
I was going to go into details, but then I realized all my examples are gross, and I'd be oversimplifying them, making them therefore useless.
4518517 So it is written, so it shall be.
4518782 And now I feel as though I've made a mistake. Kharak forgive me...