1263462
And where are we gonna find 16 cannons?! I'm pretty sure Cadence would have sussed them out for the most part.
Off Topic, i'm going to go see it this weekend. It ends an out-door symphony, and they time fireworks to it instead

Okay, so I decided on my next C-verse story. It will be about the foals, with a primary focus on Silver Spoon trying to get started on the piano in her own screwball way. :-) Bebop and Tootsie Flute will also be important, of course.

Expect the first chapter to be posted in a couple days. :-)

1266673

Does Octavia have any relationship (professionally obviously, since she never made time for friends prior to MoP) or connection in the C!verse with Frederick, the pianist from the canon Gala?

There was also a pianist playing an upright in the Nightmare Night Band and (I think) during "Raise this Barn."

Speaking of the Nightmare Night Band... how safe is it to assume that Bluenote and Pitch Perfect (her palatte swap, like Tavi and Fiddles) have the same cutie mark, since we never actually get to see Bluenote's in canon? Most artists give Bluenote an F Clef, but Pitch Perfect's cutie mark is similar to Noteworthy's (two pairs of beamed eighth notes)

1267258: Hmm. Frederick hasn't been mentioned yet.

My personal thought was that they haven't met personally, although Tavi might know of Frederick by reputation or by going to his shows (like she knew of Bluenote through reputation and through seeing some rehearsals). However, if someone has a story that has them having some kind of history/backstory, I'm fine with that.

I'd imagine Frederick to be a musician of about Tavi's age; since he didn't apprentice with Cadance, he's probably just starting out. He might have a position in an orchestra, but he's probably not famous or anything. Again, though, if someone has a good story idea, that can change.

As for Pitch Perfect, I don't see any reason why she needs to have Bluenote's cutie mark. She can have the Noteworthy mark if that's what she has canonically.

1267386

I brought Frederick up because you mentioned Silver Spoon's desire to learn how to play the piano. Octavia could be the connection between the two if SS needs a tutor and Filthy Rich wants his daughter to have "only the best."

1267386
1267453
Concert pianists don't tend to stick with the orchestra usually. They are solo animals. Piano has been called a band in and of itself! They only have orchestration in piano concerto (which showcases the piano.) Either that, or they play Harpsichord parts.

It isn't until the 20th century that the pianos actually would play as an "instrument" within the orchestra.

By the way, you are going to need real double bassist. Those instruments would tower over the ponies if Octavia's relative size to a cello's anything to go by. They can be managed actually, but the double bass will be on some kind of a rolling stand, with the player standing on a platform to play it.

1268157

Finding a way to work Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue into a story would be sweet.

1268333
My friend, you need to create a Clarinetist in all its majesty for this to happen. And of course, a sax. A fun proposition actually, but I need to finish off an opera and conclude that parasprite story for now...

What instruments could you see the C-verse versions of the M-verse mane 6 play?

I could see:-

Pinkie - Drums
Dash - Guitar
Rarity - Harp?
Applejack - Banjo?

1268714: Pinkie, we know from the show, does her one-pony-band thing. I doubt she's very good, but she can probably wrangle a bunch of instruments at once into a passable simulated band.

I could see AJ being a hobbyist on a traditional cowboy instrument, a harmonica or banjo or somesuch.

Rarity would likely be conversant in music and other cultural affairs, but I doubt she'd play -- she has enough to do that she wouldn't have time to devote herself to the craft, and she wouldn't want to embarrass herself in front of noble cliental with a bad performance.

I don't see Dash playing anything. She neither has the love of the craft nor the discipline to take anything up. In her foal years she might have played guitar or something else 'awesome,' but it's probably sitting in an old closet by now.

1271611

Actually, if I may, I think Dash plays the Bongos.

Because why else would Scoots pick them up?

And yeah, Dash is probably worse then Scoots is with them.

1268714
Pinkie can do drums, play harmonica, accordion, trombone... she's pretty OP actually, considering that she's able to sing and dance all in one. Scoots though does play the piano in m!verse.

1271804: Scoots was pretty bad at it, as I recall. Sweetie had to keep bailing her out.

1268157
Even then, it's mostly concert band pieces with written piano parts. Even in newer music, the piano parts aren't necessary unless they're the focus solo of the piece.

1268353

My friend, you need to create a Clarinetist in all its majesty for this to happen

I honestly didn't believe such a thing existed until I was in college. Of course I was pretty sure it wasn't a clarinet at that point...

Oh, and could someone clarify who the Bebop foal is for me plz?

1274891: Teal coat, bright yellow mane, pegasus. Her Lunaverse persona is that she's very loud, loves drums, and studies under Vinyl Scratch. She hasn't got much of a persona here yet, but I'm changing that in the story I hope to get a chapter of posted tonight.

1275203
Getting a chapter posted already? Dang. Aren't you working on exam jitters too?

1275495: Yeah, but that one needs a couple rewrites, so I'm going to get a chapter at least up for this one ASAP. EJ can't be posted until after July 19th anyway, and I'll probably do Concert for Ponyville first anyway, since it's the most done of my three 'autumn' fics in the Lunaverse. (Old Friends needs some rewrites, and honestly, I should probably do a certain side story before posting it).

1275502
I see.
(thinking a bit about Concert for Ponyville)
Can you let us in on what's the fic going to center on? pretty please?

Starts thinking about doing something a bit meta... write how c!verse Carmen would be put to production...

1275523: Rainbow Dash, being her Lunaverse self, volunteers Fluttershy for a benefits concert -- the proceeds will go to a veterinary clinic in Manehattan. Fluttershy, being her Lunaverse self, is terrified of the idea of performing in public, and her first reaction is to hide in a box. Trixie, seeing this as an opportunity to demonstrate her Epic Level Friendship, calls in her favor with Octavia and asks her to train Fluttershy to get ready for the concert, both to verify that she's good enough and to build Flutter's confidence. Octavia agrees, but thanks to Trixie's somewhat simplistic understanding of both of their characters, the relationship quickly degrades to the point where they refuse to work with each other anymore. Trixie needs to get them to be friends again -- and, perhaps more importantly, she needs to really understand them -- to save the concert, Fluttershy's reputation, and to show that she really can be a good friend.

In the B plot, Pinkie learns that Octavia's diet prohibits desserts. She finds this unacceptable, and takes drastic action. :-) The cake will fly...

1275550
Train wreck, delicious train wreck!
This gonna be good.

1275550

In the B plot, Pinkie learns that Octavia's diet prohibits desserts. She finds this unacceptable, and takes drastic action. :-) The cake will fly...

I'll look forward to read it!

Is it chocolate chili pepper cake? (From what I've seen, that seems like a combination that Trixie would enjoy...)

1275820
Can you picture Trixie swearing somepony's flank off after eating that?

Trixie: " Mon dieu! fiche! et va-t-en, mon garçon; va-t-en!"

1275495: Tonight... turned out to be a bit optimistic. It was a problem that I got home from the lab today, felt mildly ill, and immediately fell asleep on my mattress. :-) But I will have it up in the next couple days.

1278484 You didn't inhale something from a bacteria culture in the lab, did you? Or it isn't that kind of lab?

1279670: Not that kind of lab. :-)

1280267 Oh that's a relief! Those bacteria could be very deadly if it was that kind of lab.

Guys... I am in serious need of some input and help.

How do I not make Celestia not look like some alpha troll, when the whole scenario with Philomena's driving Fluttershy to the point of going flutterrage like she had never raged before (and basically flutterrage Philomena to death)

That's basically Act IV of Carmen. Carmen gets stabby stabbed stabbed by the broken Don José, in outright angry caused by blind love, jealousy and rejection. I mean... I thought to the point of Fluttershy crying out "arrest me! I killed her! I killed a dear friend," but I totally omitted the postmortem when Philomena basically comes back to life, shrugged off death like a boss and Celestia coming out and say "see? It's all good..."

Well it's not really all good, is it?

1285537 Maybe make Philomena a joker and make Celestia amused but doesn't approve of it. That way, she doesn't come out as a troll.

1286269
The only way for me to do this is of I go further than the end of the opera aria, for it ends at the point where Don José was crying out for people to arrest him, as he had murdered Carmen.out of his love-driven rage. That's it.

So you can see my problem, right? I have adapted the opera Carmen, and the story's virtually is all songs! You can skim it a little to see how that it is very much Carmen, verbatim structurally, with ponies!

1285537

Could it be done as a massive over reaction as on Flutter's part? Rather than killing Philomena she just knocks here down or makes her go bald and then acts like she killed her?

It doesn't work to well with the whole resurrection thing that phoenixes have going but it's all I can think of.

1286635
IDEA!
I should basically just have this postscript of sorts...
This is just all kinds of meta.

Sup dawg, I heard ya like music fics, so we did a music fic and had it being used in another music fic so that you can sing while you sing and read while you read.

Lyra closed the script in front of the astonished element bearers before her.
"And this is how we are going to turn Fluttershy's epic tale of love with a phoenix into an opera. I think these fillies can pull this off."
Octavia's eyes were widened beyond belief, while Vinyl Scratch gave some thought about her singing parts in the story.
"I don't know. Doing that sort of fancy operatic..."
The gray mare filled in for the Deejay. "Vibretto, Vinyl, vibretto."
"Yeah, that." Doing that for me is kind of a tall order...

Lyra was grinning in a smug fashion. "Surely we can do this... I have your vocals, dear Vinyl! I know that you can scream like a Banshee and sing like a siren!"
Bluenote was smiling like an idiot, while Medley actually groaned loudly at Lyra's ridiculous proposal.
"Ponyville. Serious opera. Really... we don't even speak Fancy! What... I think maybe Octavia, and just octavia speaks it!"
The mint green unicorn felt a bit indignant. "I can spe..."
Medley was dismissive. "No you can't! I remember what happened."
Sitting over her own little corner was a whimpering buttermilk pegasus. She was scared out of her wits at the mere notion of her own life story being played out to an audience... with her as the prime-time star.

1286808

Maybe although perhaps a pre and post script to highlight that this isn't reality per say.

1286845
yea... although I am starting to think that it'd be a massive undertaking for the c!six... no... the whole of ponyville to pull off.

I can definitely see Dash auditioning for her part in this, "There's only one pony awesome enough for this role, me!" although Lyra might be able to fill in in a pinch.

Congradulations, Lyra. You're the new Rainbow Dash.

1286808

Plus this adds a string to Fluttershy's bow, she's not amazing at playing music, but she's very good at composing and writing it.

That might be a bit of a weakness for Octy, she's very good at playing existing music but less good at creating it from whole cloth.

Lyra and Bluenote are probably good at improvising but might not write things down

Vinyl might create new pieces but due to the way her art is their isn't a conventional way to write them down yet being half magic / half music.

1286874
You know what? You've woken me up~ I think it's time for the c!six to get their little princess Fluttershy back from the evil clutches of the main crew.

1286883

Glad I could be of assistance.

1286808 This is probably the best option that I see. I don't think that the opera itself would be canon (in the sense that I don't think the town of Ponyville would actually put on a massive opera like that), but I think it could work for the opera to be written as it is, with then a postscript indicating this is just something one of the 6 wrote and it probably won't actually be performed.

1286874: I'd think Octavia would be good at composing, actually, particularly classical pieces. We already saw her do some of this in Music of Ponyville.

Improvisation, no. She's probably not good at that. But I'd think she'd be a capable composer.

I pretty much agree with the various statements above. But I'm loving the scene Planetarian just threw out in this post. 1286808

But other than that, I really don't have much to add.

Well, I was able to end the story with the c!6 finally getting their limelight at the end. Operatic narrative can be very constraining!

1291152

I actually thought of the ending to the opera after this scene was typed out. All of you were really helpful in making me think outside the operatic narrative. I think that the story was able to return to a c!verse context by not being constrained to the arias. Standard storytelling was the answer.

Although I feel a bit unsatisfied, somewhat.

1. Celestia. I think that she's still paper-thin here. I wasn't able to build her personality.
2. Fluttershy and her mother's dynamics. It is played just like how it goes in Carmen... a plot device.
3. C!6. I think only Fluttershy managed to shine, with Rainbow Dash getting the best, most important bit in characterization.

It's a bit frustrating.

I've got another story idea (I might even get round to writing one eventually)

Cadence gets hit by the friendship cannon for some unimportant reason and gets split into two, one a living pony filly (maybe an alicorn, maybe not) and the other the soulless automaton she was created to be. The filly's overjoyed to be a real girl and to get to have an actual childhood as well as a rest from ruling Equestria. Meanwhile the golem half either starts to go crazy or breaks down causing endless day or night and the rest of the cast have to find a way to merge them back together but does Cadence want to go back to how she was?

1296608
O gosh, that's glorious.
But you know... this makes me think of a few good golem fics that's been written before.

Sunset is one example where the Golem's own need to be fed with affection and affirmation, and it's own failings in paranoia got explored well.
A head full of Clay also comes to mind. The Golems there were not so well-built to the point of having definitive feature, but their feelings about committing to their duties are done masterfully.

So... do it! Please! Do it!

1296608: Why would the friendship cannon do that to Cadance, though? It shouldn't have negative affects like that. Then again, some other magic artifact could do it. Or maybe some bozo who wants to study golems screws up an analysis spell and inadvertently splits Cadance.

Ideally, I think such a fic would have the realization that neither half is really complete without the other. Automaton Cadance can't experience the emotions or joy that she wants to, but maybe filly Cadance can't focus or be rational long enough to get anything done? So automaton Cadance is sad because, while she can accomplish stuff, she can't connect with her subjects enough to see the point of it, and filly Cadance is sad because she wants to be there for her subjects but she can't accomplish anything.

Does that sound good?

***

I also had an idea inspired by my trip to an art museum today. Let's look at the works of the famed painter Ivan Albright. He's famous for his extremely laborious, meticulous paintings, often taking years before a work is finished. His portraits are almost grotesque and seem to highlight the flaws or ugly parts of people more than their beauty. He's most well known for his Portrait of Dorian Gray, which displays the famous depraved bachelor, and That Which I Should Have Done, I Did Not Do (The Door),, which depicts a closed door -- presumably, the door that should have been taken, but was not. He was really good at highlighting and exaggerating a subject's flaws, and yet still making the paintings entrancing to the eye.

So. In the Cadanceverse, there's this painter. He's supposed to be absolutely fantastic, taking the art world by storm. His paintings are odd, some might say grotesque, but ponies still like them. He's done paintings and portraits of many important ponies, and even gets to do some of the L6 -- let's say one of them is Bluenote. All seems well... but a few days later, someone checks on Bluenote, and sees that she looks very different. Just as the painting exaggerated, say, her sloth, her love of food and pleasure, and so forth, now she's listless, lazy, and barely ever picks up a tuba. Her body has changed and deformed too, perhaps she's become fatter and more slovenly to match with the painting, or maybe her very coat and skin seems to sag and droop, as if it doesn't want to move anywhere and will drag behind her so as to stay still and lifeless. Maybe she's covered with dirt and grime, as if she's become so lazy and listless that she no longer bathes. She seems to know that she has been altered, but can't muster up the will to do anything about it. (It could be any of them; I'm using Bluey as an example).

Now the Elements have a problem. Without the painted Bearer, they can't use the friendship cannon, so they need to deal with the painter in a more traditional way. However, the painter is a master of his or her craft, and extremely skilled at bringing out a subject's most hidden flaws and making them the most dominant features of a pony's personality. As the Elements continued to be altered, those that remain -- and perhaps those that are twisted -- must fight as hard as they can to overcome this monster and restore sanity to the art world, and Equestria at large.

I was thinking this might be a Lyra story, because it seems like the sort of epic, ballad-style tale that she lives for. Then again, it could work for almost any character. We could also make the painter possessed by Nemesis or something if we wanted to tie it into an arc.

My problem is, I don't know how to end it. Eventually one of the Elements needs to beat the painter... probably after being twisted, since otherwise it's kind of anticlimactic. (Plus it'd be a great come from behind ending; the last non-corrupted Element has been caught, the painter is beginning the work that will twist them... and then one of the corrupted Elements shows up, smashes the other paintings, and saves the day). But I don't know how. It can't be that one Element has no flaws for the painter to target; they all have flaws. So maybe one of the ponies is able to work with their flaws, somehow, and channel that into beating the painter...

(I should also note that this is not the same as Discording them. Discord inverted a pony's good qualities; AJ didn't have a liar in her before Discord showed up, nor Rainbow Dash a traitor, but Discord just added them. This would be bringing out flaws that are already there).

(I did think of maybe having Vinyl finish a golem and send it at the painter, since a new golem is just a robot and therefore has nothing to corrupt, but that also seems anticlimatic. I'd like to think the painter could beat a simple golem anyway).

Another idea, based on something Emeral said in the brainstorming threads in the Lunaverse:

Lyra somehow gets it into her head that Bonbon is in love with another mare or stallion -- let's say Big Mac, because he seems to always be the alternate love interest. At first she is devastated, but of course she feels that it would be selfish and wrong to focus on her own sadness (or try to change Bonnie's mind) instead of helping her Bonnie to be happy. Of course, Bonnie won't be happy if she tries to date Big Mac and he doesn't have the sterling character a mare like her deserves. As such, Lyra resolves to evaluate/test Big Mac to verify that he's worthy of such a spectacular mare as Bonbon. It's the only thing for a mare like her (Lyra) who cares about Bonnie so much to do.

Cue a few days in which Big Mac becomes very, very confused.

"Applejack... why is that bush following me?"

"Applejack... why is Lyra asking me bizarre hypotheticals about whether I would go to the end of the world to find the one flower that perfectly matched my marefriend's mane?"

"Applejack... why does Apple Bloom seem to think that I'm getting married in a few days?"

Of course, at the end Lyra learns that Bonnie doesn't really love Big Mac, and she's overjoyed (and resumes her usual romantic fantasies). Perhaps she also learns a lesson about not jumping to conclusions.

1299665
Lyra and paranoia?

1298687

The idea with the friendship cannon (do we really call it that officially?) was a be careful what you wish for thing . A foal gets possessed by some sort of evil sprit, maybe Nemesis maybe something else and Cadence restrains it while it get exorcised. Meanwhile she laments she never had a foalhood, the elements pick up on that subconsciously and give her one.

My original concept was for the golem Cagence to be completely personality less just doing what it was told, "Raise the Sun!" "Yes Mistress" but giving it some personality might work better. The split is a bit Star Trek like with Kirk being split into two copies. Your idea generally seems better though.

As for the Dorian Grey story, how about have the artist defeat himself, maybe each use of him power also brings out her worst traits and either this is pointed out to him and he destroys the pictures or her worst traits make him do this anyway (Paranoia, self loathing, inferiority). It could even happen after he beats all the elements.

What do you think would happen to all the 6 with their worst features brought to be front?

Bluenote - Lazy, slovenly
Lyra - Completely detached from reality, Tilling at windmills?
Fluttershy - Unable to focus on anything for any length of time.
Medley - Greedy miser
Octavia - Perfectionist? Scared of doing anything that isn't perfect? No empathy?