Dec
15th
2018
Overpowered Earth Ponies Progress · 8:05pm Dec 15th, 2018
Holiday preparations are cutting into my fanfic writing time, but I still force myself to write a little each day. Chapter One of the sequel to "Earth Ponies Are Overpowered" has more than 5,000 words . . . and not much has actually happened in-story yet. It's still establishing the plot, but that's probably fine, since I've gotten few (if any) complaints about my fanfics being too slow-paced . . . OTOH I have gotten complaints about too much info-dumping - maybe I'll pare it down after I finish the first draft? But I'm not gonna worry about it yet.
I'm going to try to ramp up my writing as soon as I finish making presents (yes, I'm making a few this year). I'll keep you posted.
Ah, thanks for the information, and good luck with the present-making and other holiday activities. :)
The only problem I had with EPAOP was that it kind of veered off to the side and just turned into These Two Earth Ponies Become Alicorns. I would like more exploration of capillomancy etc.
4981646
Thank you!
4981824
I'll try to work in more information about capillomancy and displays of other earth pony magic.
I still like re-reading EPAOP occasionally. I loved its exploration of earth pony magic and I wish it wasn't so short. If you're writing a sequel, I'm definitely looking forward to that!
I'm also stealing your ascension mechanics for my own story idea (if that ever goes anywhere). They kind of make Magical Mystery Cure make more sense retroactively (though I still feel like the cutie map was the true result of finishing Starswirl's spell), and seem about right for what the requirements for alicorn ascension should be. You've watched Remembrance SFM by argodaemon, right? The idea is that, having just given up her alicornhood in the course of casting a true resurrection spell to bring back her friends, Twilight has brought a new kind of magic to Equestria, which promptly re-qualifies her for princesshood immediately. This ends up being sort of a facehoof moment for Twilight, since the idea was to live out her natural lifespan with her friends, and now she has to figure out immortality for them instead, and how to make resurrection available to other ponies who don't fall into the "best friends who Twilight literally can't bear to live without" category.
Also, ever wonder what happened to the pony who invented that magic that leads ponies (and not only them) to spontaneously burst out into song? That's deserving of ascension for sure, but it must have happened way before the founding of Equestria...
4982573
No, I haven't watched Remembrance SFM, but I definitely love the idea of Twilight figuring out ways to make her friends immortal, or close enough to it. Though Twilight is still a long way from resurrection in my headcanon.
And I sort of assumed spontaneous bursting into song (which I've seen some fanfics call Heartsong) was natural magic to Equus, although some species prefer it more than others.
4982616
You should go watch it. It's one of the great masterpieces of MLP fan animations, alongside standouts like Lullaby for a Princess and probably others I'm forgetting. If you like the idea of Twilight's potential immortality being explored, it's right up your alley. The gorgeous visuals don't hurt, either. Do it now! It'll take like 10 minutes and I promise you will not regret spending the time.
It's unclear how long Twilight spent researching the resurrection spell she performed in Remembrance, but I imagine that once she decided she'd either do this thing or die trying, it took her way less time than anypony, even Celestia, could reasonably expect. That's just the way of Twilight Sparkle. But I estimate it would still take her years. Probably not decades, though.
Anyway, if those are the ascension mechanics we stipulate, it only makes sense that there would have been other ponies before Celestial and Luna who qualified for ascension. A lot of magic already existed in Equestria, and heartsongs are a prime example of a kind of magic that might well be extremely old. I guess some of it might have been invented by non-ponies? Still, there's probably some alicorns who didn't make it into recorded history. The tricky part is figuring out why they wouldn't be around anymore. Maybe Discord got them in the bad old days, or some other kind of fatal accident. Maybe some of them couldn't ascend for some reason, or chose not to, like Pinkie in your story. Maybe some of them are still alive, tucked away in some hidden corner of the world living as hermits.
Before the Season 7 finale, I imagined Starswirl might have been one of those. Maybe he wanted no part of immortality, or something. If understanding friendship is a strict requirement the way you wrote it in EPAOP, that would explain why he didn't ascend, but if not for that, his feats in magical innovation should have qualified him several times over. Of course, the Starswirl we've seen in the show seems somewhat different from the one I imagined. The one we've seen in the show would probably take ascension if it was offered to him.
Anyway, I imagine the reason that heartsongs are a thing in the EQG world as well is also Starswirl's fault. When he banished the Sirens, it spread through the connection between worlds, and that's why Sci-Twi sings to herself walking through Crystal Prep before she ever meets any of the rest of the main EQG cast.