Dilemma: I like talking about The Petriculture Cycle, but now that I'm done writing it, I rarely have an excuse to do so (at least, none that aren't crazy-awkward).

Solution: Ask me anything.

Hm.... how are you planning to go about rewriting it to take into account the fact that we now know that Pinkie's family and rock farm are real and that Twilight became an alicorn by other means? I'm sure it'll just need a tweak or two here and there.

Actually, to turn that into a semi-serious question, are there any aspects of the story that subsequent canon changes gave you ideas for that were now too late to incorporate?

3249898 - That's not an easy question to answer, if only because I never expected the original story to be plausibly compatible for as long as it did. That said, I do find myself wishing I'd known about the Tree of Harmony and its effects on the Everfree Forest. Knowing the official backstory for the Elements and modifying it to fit my AU seems more preferable than never bothering to question where they came from, which is more or less what I ended up doing.

What was done to Trixie once she woke up?

3249911 - Okay, Caveat: Technically speaking, I'm just speculating on this matter, mostly because I don't want to discourage anyone who might want to write a sequel that takes things in a different direction.

That said, I think a few things would happen: first of all, I alluded to the notion that magically-induced temporary insanity is a valid legal defense in Pi, so I don't think she'll have to deal with legal issues, at least not for very long. She would, however, probably need some sort of therapy to help her deal with what happened to her. Secondly, the Mane 6 offered to help her with her image makeover, and I don't think they'd turn her away if she returned to Ponyville for that purpose.

3249823
What's the threshold for manifesting an imaginary entity? It seems to be part time, part chance, and part authorial caveat.

Crimson Dawn asked:

Do the imaginary friends that become fully real such as Pinkie ever develop full feelings of all types including the possibility of romantic style love or since that was not part of what spawned them in the first place (often they started when much younger and it is not needed necessarily as an imaginary person to seek that out) do they just not exhibit those type of emotions. If they can who would they be interested in? For instance would Pinkie be more interested in ponies similar to Twilight due to their connection or would she have completely unrelated desires.

I don't see why thoughtforms would have any limitations on their ability to develop romantic feelings for others. One of the main ideas from Inscape is that thoughtforms need to move beyond their original identities as imaginary friends in order to lead fulfilling lives. Thus, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to fall in love.

3249996 - Oh, good, I've been waiting for someone to ask about that. I kept forgetting to bring it up in Author's Notes and such.

There are two requirements for the manifestation of a thoughtform. First, there must be a character who is developed to the point where it is distinct from its creator. Obviously, it does not need to be an imaginary friend, but complications arise when the creator does not view the character as a distinct individual -- Luna initially thought of Penumbra as a theoretical rogue version of Celestia, and Trixie saw her stage persona as an alternate version of herself, and as a result, neither thoughtform fully separated from their creator upon manifestation.

Second, that creator lets loose with a massive burst of magic at some point, such as when Twilight got her cutie mark, hatching Spike and causing Pinkie to appear outside Ponyville. Note, however, that this magic does not need to be unicorn magic; Discord manifested when Celestia used a tremendous amount of earth pony magic to trap Sombra (and if Rainbow Dash had an imaginary friend, it definitely would have manifested the first time she performed a Sonic Rainboom). Also note that the magic does not need to originate from the creator; Penny manifested within Luna's mind after the Elements of Harmony were used on Discord, and The Great and Powerful Trixie manifested after a magical feedback loop caused the Alicorn Amulet to self-destruct. That said, when the source of power has its own distinct personality, like the Alicorn Amulet, that ends up distorting the personality of the thoughtform that manifests.

I hope that's not too confusing.

3249996 - Side note: After typing out my response to your question, I find myself wondering if this might explain why all of A.K. Yearling's characters exist in the "real" world....

Where did you get the idea for this story? The idea of imaginary friends manifesting into reality? It isn't exactly the most common idea that i've seen.

(aside- Since I discovered your story after you finished writing and I don't think I ever commented, LOVE them and if you ever write any story whether a one off or longer in said universe you have this fav and up vote for sure )

3250059
Someone may have to run with this. A fertile imagination, using ludicrous amounts of pegasus magic in the simple back-and-forth of fetching supplies for the remote cabin, slowly succumbing to the alter ego as more and more antagonists are realized, why there's a tropical jungle and stepped pyramids to the northeast of Ponyville...

That may be what her compass really means. A. K. Yearling's special talent is worldbuilding. Literally.

3250093 - The truth is, I'm not quite sure where the idea came from. I can tell you that Petriculture was originally going to be about the Crusaders visiting Pinkie's family to see if they had a knack for rock farming, but I couldn't quite get my head around how rock farming might work. I think I started musing that perhaps rock farming didn't exist, which in turn lead to wondering if perhaps the Pie family didn't exist. This, of course, meant that I needed to explain Pinkie's existence, and suddenly... well, I'm not sure how I lit upon the notion of Pinkie as Twilight's imaginary friend (though I tend to think the fact that I was listening to School of Seven Bells at the time has something to do with it), but it not only seemed interesting, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it didn't necessarily contradict the show's canon at the time.

After that, I spent 2-3 weeks writing and polishing the story because I wanted to get it posted somewhere before the basic premise was Jossed (and before anybody else posted something with a similar idea). I posted it, and, well, the rest is history.

(Ironically, I did eventually come up with what I considered a satisfactory justification for rock farming, and I ended up explaining it in the first chapters of Flash Fog, as well as in the final story in the Petriculture Cycle.)

3250118 - Yeah... Actually, the more I think about it....

3249898 - I've changed my mind. This is what I wish I'd thought of/known about when planning everything out. Don't get me wrong, I love how Trixie/Sombra turned out as an antagonist, but now I'm wondering how it would have worked out if I went in this direction instead.

3250162 *singsong* You can always write another story!

A few things:

1. The number of imaginary friends and personas is fairly high among the show characters. Is this merely a very big statistical fluke or are there many unknown imaginary friends walking around Equestria? Hey, perhaps Angel is an imaginary friend

2. What happened with the military gear that the Diamond Dogs stole? Does this means that there are now many heavily armed Diamond Dogs on the loose?

3. How common is advanced pegasi magic like throwing lightning? Is it used or taught for military purposes or law enforcement? What about advanced earth pony magic?

Bonus question: if Calvin ever goes to Equestria, does it means we get a real Hobbes as a bonus?

Crystal Empire and the Chekhov's gun.

In the show Crystal Empire first appeared and then saved in just two episodes. It reappeared because King Sombra's chrono-curse ended and King Sombra returned. But in your version of pony universe Sombra was not a king and there was not chrono-curse. He made crystal ponies shatterable with some fancy unicorn magic and just killed them all.
I thought you roughly followed show's events, just make them happen by different reasons, add details and some new events, but don't exclude events that happened in the show. So, when battle between Pinkie and Discord begins on the great graveyard of Crystal Empire, I thought - "that's it! The massive surge of chaos magic will revive them all and make Crystal Empire reappear!". Law of Chekhov's Gun - you told about story of Sombra and Crystal Empire, the chaotic magic battle was there - so, it must be it! But... no =( Why didn't you make Crystal Empire reappear?

3251204 - The story of Sombra wasn't supposed to establish the existence of the Crystal Empire. It was meant to demonstrate that in this AU, Sombra wasn't merely a power-hungry tyrant, but was actually batshit insane. It thus explains where Trixie's obsession with perfection came from, and why Celestia was willing to use so much magic to fight him (and manifested Discord in the process). Thus, Anton Chekov's rule about showing a gun doesn't really apply, since the whole thing was simply characterization for Sombra. Also, Sombra didn't make the crystal ponies "shatterable," he just shattered them. Even if the Crystal Empire returned due to the antics of Discord and Pinkie, there would be no crystal ponies, since they're all dead.

3250810
1. It's only a fluke in the sense that characters from the show are much more likely to access the immense amount of magic needed to manifest a thoughtform. Since nopony has ever done it on purpose, I'd imagine they're still quite rare.

2. Maybe, but I doubt The Great and Powerful Trixie would have had the Diamond Dogs distribute it among themselves. It's probably still in a single cache, and one that Penumbra and Discord probably found while they were dealing with the Diamond Dogs offscreen.

3. If Derpy can do it by accident, I don't see why it can't be done on purpose.

3251507
Err, what? They're just crystal golems? But how they hybridised with ordinary ponies then, to make Cadance? Such different biology will never make a child, even if both sides try really hard! (Sorry for unintentional pun and raunchy)

3250162 You should think about it. But don't worry until you finish Flash Fog. I love me some Flash Flog.

Another question- When coming up with the mind-scapes present in the story, did you ever think what some of the other characters' minds might look like?

3251682 - No, they are basically "ponies with some crystalline characteristics," as I said in the story itself.

3251683 - Not really. I don't like writing detailed descriptions, and (most of the time) I don't like reading them either, so I always try to avoid describing places, characters, and things unless I conclude that it's absolutely necessary, and even then using the minimum amount of details I can get away with.

3251695
If they are SHATTERABLE, it's not "some". Shattarable mean that their metabolism is not liquid water-based. It's a great thing, and it leads to so much changes in biology that they will never able make hybrids with liquid water-based lifeforms, even if their DNA code is comparable (if crystalline lifeforms even have DNA). Trust me, I'm biologist, I know such things.

3251728 - Luckily for me, Equestria is a world where clouds can support the weight of winged horses because nobody bothers to question how pegasus magic works, so I think I'm safe with simply handwaving discrepancies with artistic licence.

3251747
I have explanation for pegasus magic. It's pretty much the same as earth pony magic, but it flowing through air and fluids, not solid earth. And main instrument of this magic is wings, instead of earth pony's hooves. But pegasi can channel their magic through hooves too, so they can stand on clouds and even kick-disperse them with magic bursts from hooves.
But "it's magic" can't explain hybridization of so different lifeforms. Simple "It's magic" is the worst explanation ever existed in this world. It make things even less believable than even no explanation. Really.

3251790 - I didn't say I was handwaving by saying it was magic. I said I was using artistic license to ignore it. Explaining how hybrids between the crystal ponies and regular ponies can happen wouldn't further the story, and not having Cadance exist to tell the story means that the readers wouldn't learn just how crazy Sombra is (plus, I'd have to get rid of the emotional subtext by having the characters learn from some dusty books).

3251819
Ignoring logic is one of the best ways to shatter reader's trust and involvement in text. Use this license with great caution.

3251836 - As I explained, I have very good reasons to use artistic license in this case.

3251838
And next question - Discord's magic can do impossible, ending showed it pretty brightly. So why can't his magic return to life all that dead crystal ponies, along with the whole Crystal Empire? It's chaotic and impossible, ergo, why not?

3251849 - Because at the time he was busy fighting with Pinkie Pie, and it didn't occur to him to revive the dead just to act as an audience. Discord, it should be remembered, may create a lot of chaos, but he has complete control over his own magic, so he wouldn't have done it by accident. After the story, there's probably not much stopping him from reviving them, but now that he's on the side of good, it seems likely that his friends would convince him to let the dead rest in peace.

3251871
"Let the dead rest in peace"? And Discord? You should try imagining what he'd say to that, it's hilarious!
Really, this "rest" and "in peace" bullshit is... just bullshit, especially for the ones like Discord! No fun, just boring non-existence - if he have just a lick of empathy, he'll revive them at the moment he knows about them! Also, he will have fun about their facial expressions when they'll understand what happened and how much time passed. I think he'd say something like "priceless!" and/or "you should see the look on your face!". He experienced death and came back, why don't do this so somepony else and admire the view?
At least the version of Discord as you described him in "Petriculture" cycle would do it.

3251918 - Who said the dead were in a state of non-existence? I specifically said that The Void wasn't what ponies recognized as an afterlife, because neither Discord nor Sombra actually died. Even then, Discord didn't really mind non-existence. It was Sombra's attempt to keep existing that made The Void unpleasant.

Being familiar with the process of working on a story (or in your case, a number of sequels set in the same continuity) for over two years, "Daring Do and the Secret of the Fourth Wall" in my case, there are all sorts of little bits and pieces of ideas revolving around the story's core-concept floating in my head.

Like... "What are the underlying rules?", "How can you exploit them?", "What are the limits?", "What can you NOT do without risking to break things?", "What are the implications of these rules/limits?", or even alternate scenes or situations not necessarily set in the same continuity, but using the same rules and principles.

But of course, I couldn't possibly openly talk about those - not so much out of fear of spoiling the narrative, exactly, but more out of fear to spoil its "mystery".

As such, my question is as this:

What are all the little things that went through your head, all the underlying rules and concepts and alternate ideas that make up your "Petri-questria" that, while not strictly a spoiler for the story, you still couldn't openly talk about, or that you simply couldn't adress up-front in the story itself?

Did you have ideas for an 'alternate' "Petri-questria", sharing its rules, but not necessarily its history?

To give an example: One where, say, Celestia and Luna - the ideal union of pegasi, earth pony and unicorn in one, the half-god-empresses of ponykind, able to control the very heavens above - had originally been thoughtforms themselves, perhaps never knowing it?

As for the rules...

What if somepony tried to create a thoughtform on purpose, perhaps with malicious intent?
What steps would they take to do so? Seeing what Discord can do, and how The Great and Powerful Trixie was literally "better than you", would there even be an upper bound for its powers?
Could a thoughtform literally be given "infinite magical power" and made "unstoppable by any means"?

3250029

(and if Rainbow Dash had an imaginary friend, it definitely would have manifested the first time she performed a Sonic Rainboom)

And that's where Derpy came from...

3257640 - As far as "rules I couldn't reveal" go, most of them were related big reveal that Pandelirium's antagonist was The Great And Powerful Trixie rather than Trixie Lulamoon (and even then, I still did my best to drop a few hints). Anything else that wasn't mentioned, didn't get mentioned simply because there was no way to point it out without disrupting the narrative.

As far as making one deliberately goes, well, in a sense, that is what Penumbra does with her Shadowbolt golems --- but that ability is based on Luna's assumptions of how Celestia manifested Discord. The Shadowbolts are not true thoughtforms because they ultimately lack independence, being firmly under Penny's control at all times (and besides that, they aren't unstoppable, either).

But to return to your question, somepony could probably make a thoughtform that was theoretically unstoppable, but in order to manifest outside of their creators' minds, they need to be independent. Although the creator lays the building blocks of the thoughtform's personality, it is the thoughtform itself that fills in the gaps. Thus, there's always a chance to appeal to the thoughtform's personality and convince it to stop, even if you can't use physical force to make it stop.

3257665

Bam, another branch to explore. Her absurd level of clumsiness could have come from Dash blaming her imaginary friend whenever she broke or crashed into something.

3250059

Another idea that'd be cool to see.

The first OC I ever truly spent time making was a dimension-hopping Crystal Earth named "Rutilated Quartz" who shows up in Equestria shortly before the events of "Too Many Pinkie Pies".

He used the Mirror Pond as his way in.

So, he's kinda stuck afterwards.

After reading (and loving) your Cycle, I'm thinking he might be a good fit for the post-Pandelirium Petriverse. Do I have your permission to add his tale to your vault sometime soon?

5863788 - Sure.

5870104
Alright sir, thank you very much!

I'm waiting on a Filipino friend to catch up on the backlog of the show before I begin writing this tale in earnest, but I'll be sure to keep in touch with ideas, continuity, characterization ideas and so forth once I do.

Until next time...

. . .