Socially-Responsible Story Brainstorming: Return to the Sisterverse · 4:43pm Jul 9th, 2020
Another idea for a story--this one a little more serious. Read on for details, but first, some context.
As was once said on Twitter, "Being angry all the time is exhausting and corrosive. Not being angry feels morally irresponsible." I have responded to that dilemma, for better or worse, by trying to ignore it all. I fully support the efforts to battle coronavirus, and those who protest for racial justice, but I find the prospect of actually being on the front lines of those battles intimidating and, perhaps, harmful to my own mental health. I recognize that I live a life of extreme priveliege to be able to hang out in the "Thoughts And Prayers" camp at this point in our country's history--and yet, I feel somewhat guilty for doing so.
After reading blog posts by both FoME and Deadalus Aegle, I feel like I have a responsibility to stand up for what I believe in, at least in some fashion. I know that writing fanfic for the rapidly-dwindling audience of a cancelled TV show may not be the best or most effective way to do so, but I feel an obligation to do something. For that reason: I am thinking of returning to one of my several AUs--though in a very different way.
If you recall: I wrote a fanfic called "The Sisterverse Social" (tagged in this post) in which the Mane 6 were composed of three sets of sisters. "Radiance"--the Rarity of that universe--was inspired by her big brother Shining Armor, as well as her love of her Shadow Spade books, to become a police officer. For her, the act of protecting others is an act of self-sacrifice: she (generously) gives of her own safety and security to ensure that others can sleep safe and sound.
And that's where this (potential) story begins.
Radiance, either still in the middle of the Canterlot Police Academy or fresh out of it, is adjusting to life as a police officer. It's a lot less glamourous than she's been led to believe, but she enjoys the work--especially since she cuts a particularly dashing figure in her new uniform.
One day, the Canterlot Police pick up a suspect who, to everyone's surprise and horror, turns out to be a changeling. Perhaps the Canterlot Wedding has already taken place; perhaps not. Either way, fueled by fear and rumors, the changeling becomes victim to frequent beatings and abuse from the other police. After all, he's not even a pony--do non-ponies even have the protection of the law?
At first, Radiance goes along with things--after all, she feels a lot of those same fears and prejudices, and she doesn't want to endanger her own future in the Force by speaking up. However, she comes to recognize that, as an officer of the law, she has a right to extend her protection to everycreature, regardless of who they are.
Perhaps Radiance ends up protecting the changeling from the other officers. Perhaps she ends up standing up for him in court. But either way: she stands up for what she believes is right, and ends up changing the minds of those around her as she does.
To be honest, I don't know if I can write this story. I have no firsthand experience with the issues at stake here. And I don't want to come across as trite or preachy, as that would potentially do more harm than good. Plus, given all the other things I have to handle and how long it takes me to write a story, I feel like I might not be able to get this out until long after the issues are no longer relevant--or at least, no longer in the public conciousness. But I still feel like I should do something, if for no other reason than to say I did.
I don't know entirely how to condense all the emotions I'm feeling right now into a concise, pithy conclusion--except to say that I don't think it's a controversial opinion that we should treat other people like human beings. That was one of the most consistent messages of Friendship Is Magic, after all--and it's growing increasingly neccesary to do so in our everyday lives. If I can help even a few people come to that realization through my writing, then I would at least like to try--thought, frankly, I find myself more than a little afraid of actually doing so.
I think that this is an important story to write. You could always ask around to see if there’s any mutuals who might have the experience you need. They could serve as prereaders. Research can always help if you can’t find anyone too, or at least inspire the perspectives you need.
I’m still reading your stuff. It’s on my priority RiL. I just really have to spend my time wisely with university and my own projects taking up a lot of my time. But my read it later actually does mean read it later, so there’s that.
I wanna see rares kick ass https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Dorner_shootings_and_manhunt
5304241
Could be interesting... but responding to excessive force with excessive force seems... counter-productive.
That's a solid framework for a story, but I don't know what it like to be a police officer now. I just replaced the police with the Guard in Spider-Mare.
I think it's worth writing.
I also think that using pretty much any fantasy race, especially in MLP, as a stand-in for real-world race issues will always come up short. Changelings, for instance, are biological parasites if not predators; the same cannot be said for any human race.
5304245
Agreed. It just leads to everyone being hurt.
When you fight fire with fire, everyone gets burned.
Generally speaking, I think this story is probably one worth telling.
However, I am also generally hesitant about using fantasy species as stand-ins for human minorities, at least when they're so clearly distinct from each other (as opposed to the usual roster of humans, humans but with pointy ears, humans but short, humans but short and beardy, humans but green, etcetera). I'm especially hesitant about this being done in situations where the species in question, like the changelings here, is clearly in the position of being the aggressor rather than the original victim. It's... well, the changelings were pretty unambiguously introduced as invaders who attacked Equestria unprovoked and tried to turn ponies into food, right? And if this is post-wedding, this can't be more than a few years back.
This does not, mind you here, justify violence towards random, captive individuals at the law's mercy, but if we're talking about metaphors and storytelling then there's a tremendous difference between fear and distrust towards those who invaded and tried to enslave you and fear and distrust towards towards the still-downtrodden descendants of your ancestors' former slaves.
5304285
Perhaps, with their history, a crystal pony could be a better comparison?
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5304279
Thank you for these comments. The use of changelings is one thing I was worried about.
For what it's worth: my original idea was that the use of changelings would complicate the discussion slightly. After all, changelings have a reputation of being dangerous, deserved or not (again, haven't made a decision about the timing of this thing). This would sync with some people who point to histories of African-American violence as justification for their behavior: in both cases, "we have to repress them to keep our families safe!"
But again, this is still up in the air; if this proves too problematic, I'll scrub it in a heartbeat. I like 5304293 's comment--perhaps the victim is a crystal pony, who is peresecuted because of their association with Sombra?
Yeah, I can see where you would be inspired by real life events. And, I can't think of much right now, but, yeah, perhaps the captured/abused Changeling could be Thorax after Shining's wedding to Cadance, but BEFORE the return of the Crystal Empire. Radiance, of course, has the reputation benefit of being one of the heroes who foiled Chrysalis's invasion attempt (doing the investigating that gathered the hard evidence needed to expose Chrysalis since she knew the real Cadance as well as Twilight did [Twilight wanted to help with the investigation, but Radiance insisted otherwise; despite her little sister's past heroism against Nightmare Moon and Discord, Twilight is still technically a civilian and hasn't had the proper training for such an investigation]), but, even so, it's her against most of the rest of the department. Meaning, she has to be EXTREMELY careful while still doing her duty as an officer of the law.
Of course, Thorax ends up developing a pretty big crush on Radiance (as she is one of the very few ponies that treats him with actual kindness and makes any attempt to stick up for him against others) and gradually comes to realize how good it feels to earn AND share love. From Radiance, Thorax learns to develop more and more of a backbone without losing the niceness. Radiance's family (including her sister-in-law Cadance) as well as the other Element Bearers (ESPECIALLY Flyby [this universe's Fluttershy]) ultimately back her up emotionally and in deed after if becomes more and more obvious that, while Chrysalis is indeed evil, THIS particular Changeling DEFINITELY IS NOT.
In fact, by the end of the story, Chrysalis is pretty much the ONLY Changeling that IS still evil (and, as such, is taken to Tartarus after she is overthrown two years sooner than in canon)
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And, before that, you could do a more light hearted one shot after the first Sisterverse story but almost a year before this story, with the three brothers coming together a couple of weeks after Nightmare Moon's defeat, and Shining introducing Cadance (while they are dating, but just a couple of months before they are officially engaged) to the other two stallions (and Shining reminding them in good natured teasing [at least concerning Mac; he is considerably more stern toward the other one]) that HE saw Cadance YEARS before either one of them.
And, I'll TRY to think of more.
I agree with subbing in crystal ponies. They'll work well for making Equestrians uncomfortable even without involving real-world politics: They're foreign, they're a thousand years behind the times, they're ponies yet don't quite fit in the three-tribe model, and they're so touchy about the strangest things. ("Sombra? Who's that? I just want to know why that tourist at the geology museum flipped out when he saw those obsidian samples.") The police taking one in on suspicion of being suspicious could definitely work there.
5304330
Changelings are also a radically different type of creature with too much fantasy species ability to factor in. Crystal ponies are a different race, likely just with their own magic perks (crystal heart abilities vs. shapeshifter insect emotional eating natural parasite powers). Pony is in the name too, and they have their unique culture and social situations and episodes lightly touching on embracing them and integrating them as a sort of colony-thing. Changelings are an allied nation, so they’re better (literal) alien immigrants than ‘my neighbor who is somewhat different from me’ like a crystal pony would be.
Oh, plus crystal ponies are underused cutie pies, on a more lighthearted note.
5304340
That's a fascinating take on pony microagressions(?): "Why does the sight of obsidian makes you uncomfortable? Because it's just like any other rock. Being afraid of it is stupid. Is it because SOMBRA? Why does SOMBRA bother you, anyways? Wasn't SOMBRA a famous king that everyone liked?"
5304293
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5304391
Hmm. Crystal ponies might actually be a pretty good choice for this sort of setup. They're not really that far from the pony baseline, such as it is -- they're obviously different from earth ponies or pegasi or unicorns, but they're not really more different from them than they are from each other -- their differences are mostly cultural and they don't have any real negative baggage going on.
The microaggression idea might also be worth pursuing. Between cross-cultural obtuseness and the crystal ponies obviously being in no position to really elaborate, there's a lot of believable potential for a thing that's relatively harmless in its context serving as a trigger for memories of the bad times, and then things escalating from there when Equestrians perceive them as just freaking out over nothing, try to contain them and end up making things worse.
5304293
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5304442
I can see the logic, except for one thing - most ponies already KNOW that the Crystal Ponies ARE NOT evil - they were under Sombra's mind control, yes, but EVEN THEN, it was limited to getting their memories of the location of the Crystal Heart removed. NONE of them has ever shown ANY hostility toward other ponies in general (with the exception of Sombra himself, who was DEFINITELY evil enough to DESERVE the hostility). Not to mention they would have PROVEN heroes vouching for them.
Still, considering her oldest brother and sister-in-law are the co-rulers of the Crystal Empire (and her youngest brother is one of their greatest heroes), it COULD be understandable why Radiance might be accused of being biased and showing favoritism if she weren't careful in sticking up for them.
Still, I have to admit that I DO appreciate that you AREN'T going with zebras (i.e. the fandom's typical go-to species concerning black analogues) for this.
5304977
It's not a question of intrinsic evils. (It certainly isn't in the real-life situation!) It's a question of being different. Sticking out. Being strangely sensitive about seemingly harmless things. In a species with as much of a herd mentality as ponies, that sort of behavior... Well, we saw how Ponyville shunned Zecora. Not because she was a zebra—remember, they'd never even heard of zebras before Twilight first saw her—but because she was a creepy loner who lived in the local eldritch hellwood.
Also, news travels slowly in Equestria when it isn't a catastrophe on a global scale. Even then, consider how infrequently the Mane Six get recognized for the whole "world-saving" thing. If it's a new development in what's technically a foreign country? Forget it. Celestia didn't know about the conquest of much of the Southern Hemisphere until Tempest Shadow crashed Twilight's first festival. The average pony on the street may be vaguely aware of the source of the global aurora, but that won't give them much context for the new neighbor who acts like there's a death in the family every time you say you forgot something.
5304977
The crystal ponies were literally enslaved and have canonical collective PTSD. That and there is likely to always be one pony in the Equestrian side who is either ignorant or just unpleasant, judging by the flavor of some of the minor show antagonists (not the villains, the more everyday opponents).
The crystal ponies are kind of the perfect stand-in for a reason. Zebra may be the show’s obvious stand-in for black people but a) they’re still a different species, not a race Of pony and b) the characters are all still talking animals and not intended to line up exactly/at all with an irl representation of a human skin color. Surely you’ve seen artists who have headcanons/fan art of main characters as many different races when humanized? It’s because so few characters would have anything to really suggest a correlation like that, and at the end of the day they’re still talking rainbow ponies.
5304977
What 5304982 said -- this isn't a question of someone being or not being evil -- in fact, for the metaphor that's evidently being aimed for, I'd say that having the discriminated-against minority actually be evil would be counterproductive. It's simply a matter of cultural differences, and of people receiving unfair treatment because of something the authorities don't understand and don't really think they need to understand.
5304234
By the way: thank you for this. You don't neccesarily need to update me on your reading progress, but I do appreciate knowing that I'm close to the top of you list! I really appreciate your kind words.
5305131
You did say that the site was dying, but I really think that the 2020 factor has contributed to a lot less activity. There's a lot of very real problems going on, especially with the corona-plague, and all. That gives so few people time for reading. Even people who have gotten through this half of the year pretty okay, there's just not a lot of time for reading.
(Also, I've noticed that people who don't use site features for promoting or never depended on them before face reader stagnation, but that's another story and an easier fix.)
That's just sorta why I've mentioned it.