Top Reasons why Starfleet Is a Terrible Setting to Live In · 11:29pm Oct 4th, 2017
If you don't know by now, Starfleet is a series of fanfics which are to somehow "better" MLP. I understand why people would want to better MLP. Nothing is perfect, after all. But this particular series has me a bit ... uneasy about a few things. I don't hate them in any order, but here's a list of top reasons I believe this world sucks.
1) Incest is rampant
Each alicorn in Unicornicopia has a 4 digit ID number assigned to them. It goes letter, letter, number, letter. Using counting principles, 26*26*10*26 = 175760. This means they must have a really shallow gene pool or they're reusing numbers which defeats the purpose of an ID tag.
2) Racism
So, several Starfleet forces and civilians who were normal astronauts set off to explore the vast regions of dimensional space, locating other planets suitable to live on, or to explore and observe. By doing this they met other races of creatures. Some were bad and some were nice, some to help and some to fight. By expanding their horizons, the space ponies found new allies with friendly races and helped to protect them from evil forces, and other Starfleet fighters would invade the home planets of potential evil forces before they could cause any danger. This way, if any chaos was to commence, it would happen on the bad guys’ home world instead of innocent worlds.
Basically, Starfleet is the judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to who is good and who is evil. Now, if Starfleet can read the souls of whoever they see and see that they are utter filth, then I would give like 6.022*10^ -23 times more sympathy to them, but no. They're that way. Mykan tries so hard to push them as the superior species (philosophers can bicker on if such things exist) that they come off as racists, dogmatic monsters.
One morning, Lightning and Twilight wrote a regular letter to the palace, and Grand Ruler and the Queen answered immediately when Spike belched out the letter. The letter said that everything was fine in New Canterlot, and Goldwin was really coming along nice in his studies about the world. He would spend a lot of time in the royal library, and seemed to be a fast learner. Candance often helped him like a teacher and was pleased to help him a lot when she wasn’t performing her duties in the prison-caverns.
“That’s Cadance for you.” Twilight said “The best foal-sitter I ever had.”
“Don’t you mean "babysitter?” Lightning asked.
“Oh, sorry…” Twilight said. She was still getting used to her new speech adjustment.
It was "Somebody" not "Some-pony", and all the basic stuff. Still, it was nice to see that things all over the kingdom were safe. “Careful…” Spike said “Every time you say that, that’s when something bad usually happens.”
... totally not racist for changing someone's speech to reflect your own people's inflection.
Look, this reminds me of a scene from the book Pygmalion. Back when the book was written, how someone sounded mattered. People, well-respected ones, would speak in a form of a British accent called received pronunciation or something like that. Basically, it is what you hear on the BBC. People with my accent, the Cockney accent, were seen as dirty muddle shovelers because they sounded uneducated rather than the actual content of their speech. In other words, I'm beginning to imagine Starfleet as a bunch of British imperialists. Well done.
3) Tyranical Sadists
She went on to say that her father was too fond of Starfleet, thinking they and their methods of dealing with bad guys were over-the-top. He didn’t even know his own wife was a Starfleet member until he found out some years after they were married and Starla was born, this was another one of their bigger arguments, being on the force, and blaming his wife for putting ideas into Starla’s head when really it wasn’t her fault.
Some villains Starfleet captured and brought to justice in hopes there was a chance to redeem themselves, but other non-living types like the Floralbite, which had no hearts or souls and could never be reformed or were too powerful to be contained, they were destroyed and for good reason; to stop them before they hurt any innocent beings…
...But as usual, her father’s stubbornness, ignorance and stupidity continued to show. “Why can’t we just talk with them, convince them to stop all this? I’m sure they’d listen.”
Lightning and Krysta felt sick to their stomachs at such stupidity. “I know he had good intentions but... reasoning with creatures THAT evil…?” groaned Lightning.
“That’s like trying to capture the sun, either incredibly difficult or impossible.” added Krysta. “Tell me about it…” said Starla “We even tried to tell him that Starfleet DID try to reason with some enemies, but it usually never worked out. Villains would refuse to listen or simply didn't wish to change their ways...
And then, one day when I was about ten years old... my father was about to awakened from his blindness, but at a terrible price.”
I think the dialogue speaks for itself. Starfleet only sees things in black and white. There is no neutrality. There is no redemption. Then again, I see them as a bunch of sadists. Here's why:
“QUIET!!” a guard shouted as he walked along the cell-bock, “KEEP IT DOWN, ALL OF YOU OR YOU WON’T BE FED TONIGHT!!! I MEAN IT!!”
Several more prisoners were being marched in after a hard day’s labour, as part of their sentence. One of the creatures attacked the guards and tried to make his escape.
“Oh, no you don’t!!” someone shouted, followed by a small blast of Uniforce, knocking the alien unconscious.
It was the warden; Cerise Wonder, whom had long since been promoted to Colonel. She was a space alicorn, whom greatly resembled princess Cadance-- same color, same mane style, even same voice-- but Cerise had a golden horn like Lightning had.
The guards saluted, and were grateful she showed up, and she gazed pitifully at the prisoners, “You see that?” she said threateningly as she motioned to the unconscious convict, “Anyone else who tries will get it worse! GOT IT?!”
Though Brass knew the other aliens prisoners, he still felt the way the Starfleet ponies were behaving was worse.
Hello Mykan, are you reading this? You are. Good. I have one thing to say: DON'T FREAKING MAKE A STRAWMAN ARGUMENT ONE THAT IS EASY TO SYMPATHIZE WITH! STRAWMAN ARGUMENTS ARE MEANT TO BE EASILY DEFEATABLE!
Now that I have that outside of my system, I take issue with using torture and hard labor as punishment. In the event a mistake is made in the trial or the trial is rigged, the innocent defendant has lost more than just time and definitely lost more sanity than he would a humane jail which will clearly lead to more crimes created. But hey, Mykan says that this is acceptable in real life, ignoring the Geneva Convention, and that's all that matters.
In the original work, a pony named Ace Ray was given a lobotomy in order to make him conform to Starfleet standards. In the rewrite, he was sent to an insane asylum. There you have it: if someone disagrees with you, then make them agree with you or get them as far away as possible. Isn't that great?
I personally believe that these are the top reasons why they suck, but what do you believe makes this world suck?
I believe it would be more correct to say that Starfleet rarely does redemption, as in the case of Chrysalis and...
Say, have you read Mykan's Q&A regarding Starfleet? I reckon there's enough material in it for at least another blog like this.
4697978
Didn't realized that existed. Let's see what I've found.
It wasn't a lobotomy. He was SHOWN images of what really happened and how things were so he could understand and realize his boasting and brash behavior was wrong. However since people didn't approve it, it became obvious that people didn't want him getting better. So I made the rewrite it and make it so Ace never got help. (How could he get help? He was written so he wouldn't cooperate. Therefore, he's hopeless)
Edit:
Ace Ray is considered to be too violent, and unreasonable, and after the crimes he had committed, he is deemed a danger to himself and those around him. Therefore, he is sent to the nuthouse (Just like people in real life who are dangerous to those around them as well as themselves)
Edit 2:
That's not quite it what you compared it to. Starla's situation with her father getting killed was that sometimes you can't negotiate with enemies. Do you really think they'd WANT to negotiate?
4698212
And Ace Ray is considered insane merely because he thinks Starfleet sucks and he beat up his sister?
4698294
Yes ace is crazy, mad crazy
4698212
Edit 2:well it is better to use negotiations first then fight.let us see what they want and if there goals hinder the lives of many innocent beings then we attack if there is no alternative
4700453
But what if you get shot and killed like Starla's dad did? Then you don't get to carry out a plan B or whatever you had, and those that do... like starla would have, she's lost her father. (She didn't approve his loud mouth, but she didn't want him to die)
you must realize that some enemies just kill for cold cruel pleasure (Like Sombra's minion Melantha. She has no real reason to kill. She just loves killing) You can offer her anything, money, power, the world... and even if you give it to her, she'll just kill you anyway. (She's not interested in negotiating, only killing)
4700547
Well that is a risk they need to take.if starfleet and celesto don't know the reason of there attacks and cruelty then they may not only lose a way that to end the conflict peacefully they could also lose a potential ally like rep-stallion,mysterious, dementia,*since they way titan created them is similar to celesto creating his people unless there something different I am currently in chapter 4*and the ponies you based on the critics*ace seems to be a lost cause at somepoint I heard*
4700561
I don't think risking people's lives, like pawns on a chessboard, is a good idea. Not as much as trying to find the trouble BEFORE it happens.
Oh, they usually DO know the reason. The creatures say it out loud their intentions, or their actions make it clear. Either way, killing may be understandable, but is it excusable? I don't think so. Sometimes, even Starfleet feels bad having to destroy living beings, but sometimes, you just don't have a choice.
Yes, you're mega far behind. Titan's minions are not created like the space ponies. They're made of corpses and graveyard soil, kept alive by magic. They have no hearts... they have no souls... They were created BY evil to SERVE evil, nothing more. they do not desire to feel true love, or compassion like that. They exist for only ONE reason "To Destroy and Wreak havoc"
4700572
Doesn't dementia love herself?
4700583
That's vanity and narcissism, not love
4700584
True but after hearing what they do to the criminals when they captured like brass bolt and phoebe it makes me feel sad,even ones that had been there for many years through conditions like that.no wonder when they escape they were antagonistic because starfleet's mistreatment causes them to be even more evil.*sighs*sometimes I feel if it would. Be better if criminals who go through so much pain so long should be executed that way they wouldn't feel pain anymore
4700584
Sorry about that I felt emotional back there
4711122
Except... if I executed them, wouldn't that make Starfleet bloody killers? Wouldn't all the finks still just yak on me worse than before?
4711355
You may have a point there I just felt so sorry for those guys and yes I know they are evil but when one of the evil ones were punish for so many years because of mocking(I heard celestia did the sentence) it gives a "that is pretty harsh"feeling but it is your story this just my opinion you do what you to your characters and world
4711451
Oh, for crying out--
Frost Eye was also responsible for disruptive weather, bringing big freeze's and hurting people... he's a CRIMINAL
4711510
Well I blame TV tropes for not giving the full story(truth be told if it wasn't for TV tropes this story existed at least now I know frost truly did deserve the punishment thanks (I really need to stop getting distracted and read the full story I blame legendbringer on that one)
4711540
Ahem.
Sure, freezing over Equestria is bad but the way this is worded, it seems that he hadn't actually done it yet and was punished for it anyway! And it was a stupid punishment as well! How in the world was he supposed to learn respect for others when he was alone and unable to move or think? Or is the narrator implying that Frost-Eye could think the whole century he was frozen?
4712408
You have a good point there, the way it sounds
gives it the idea of freezing everything 24/7 was just that, an idea and he was only just playing pranks and teased the idea of someone liking other season than winter(to be fair I am one of those who prefer winter than other seasons).which makes
the 1000 years punishment sound very harsh I mean nightmare moon 1000 year banishment was justified by the corruptness of Luna at the time but punishing frost that long for something that could have been solved easily with words could have saved him.in that way of wording Rainbow should have been punished in the same way
4712408
No wonder he turned evil. Madness from being trapped like that turned him evil.
I think Mykan said once that they don't reuse numbers even after a person dies. So yeah they have the most shallow gene pool ever...
Say, you know that last bit with the mistreatment of prisoners? Mykan got that and some of the lines from this:
Can you see what's wrong with having his characters copy those characters, unlike Mykan?