To the Finder of this Letter
To the Finder of this Letter
I don't know who you are, where you are, or if you can even read this, but if you are seeing this message then I consider myself very lucky. I have a great favor I must ask of you, and would not ask if the stakes were not so high. If you can do this favor for me, you will give some peace of mind to many people who've had it taken from them, and though I will never meet you, never thank you face to face, you will have my eternal gratitude as well as theirs.
My favor is this: Please deliver this message to _____ ____ _____, last known address _____ _______ ___, ____, __ _____, United States of America, or _______ _________ ____, last known address ____ __________ _____, ____, __ _____, United States of America. These are my parents, and I can't put into words how much it would mean to me to have this delivered to them.
I imagine that you're going to read the rest of this letter. If you can resist, I would prefer that you don't, but I also understand if you do. I do however ask that you not judge my family, whether it be for good or ill, based upon what you read and/or infer from what this parchment says.
With Hope and Appreciation,
Bowan Dove
To My Family
I cannot possibly express how desperately I hope these words reach you someday. The possibility is a long shot, given the size of the world and how little of it is really inhabited, much less by any who can read this message, and even less by those with the means to deliver it to one of you. Even with the hundreds of thousands of these letters I'll be sending out, it's unlikely that you will ever see one. If you are reading this though, if my words have defied the odds and reached you. . . even though I will never know it, the very thought fills me with such happiness it raises me right off my feet.
On the other hand, it is also possible that you'll see this letter, looking exactly the same, more than once. This is not some cruel hoax. As I said, I will be sending hundreds of thousands, because any less and I don't have high enough hope that they'll reach you. To write them all myself would take years, perhaps decades, and so I've asked that some of my friends here help me by making copies of the ones I do write. I can't explain the details, and I can't offer any concrete evidence. I can only state my case, and hope to the heavens that you read these words and believe them.
Not knowing is always the worst, isn't it? I can't be sure, but I imagine I just disappeared without a trace. If that be the case, I am so, so sorry. I can barely begin to imagine how horrible that must have been, and though my disappearance wasn't my fault, I can't help but feel sorry for what you've all had to go through. Hopefully by now you've been able to push through some of that pain, and hopefully this letter will help alleviate the worst of it.
I hope you'll forgive me if I don't know how much time has passed since I've been gone. Time can be a funny thing here. By my reckoning it's been about a year, and hopefully the same is true for you. If it turns out it's been a few months or a few years, then maybe this will be better timed. If it turns out it's only been a few days. . . then this will probably be devastating, and for that I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for how confusing all that must be. I wish I knew how to explain it to you, but I can't.
What follows is going to hurt, and before you read it I want you all to know this: I love you. All of you. I miss all of you so much, and writing this next part is going to be painful, however necessary it is. I don't do it to upset any of you, I do it because I have to be honest.
I can't come back. I'm sorry.
I don't really know where here is, and to be honest I'm STILL having trouble believing that this place exists in the first place. All I know is that the arrival was probably the most painful and terrifying ordeal I've ever suffered through. There are precious few here who have the means to send me back at all, and those few have warned me that the return trip would more than likely kill me. I've yet to catch any of them in a lie yet, and if my return would be anything like the trip here, I believe them.
As for where I am. . . I'm so sorry. I can't tell you. I wish I could, but I can't.
The first reason is that, quite frankly, even if I were to write it here, you wouldn't believe me. I promise. The fact that I am where I am is so absurdly unlikely that the numbers one would have to use in calculating the odds are so high I don't even know their names. It's made me have to rethink the significance of every book, comic, show, movie, and video game I've ever enjoyed. To be honest, even now I sometimes wonder whether or not I've simply gone insane, and everything that's happened in the last year has been a single, unending hallucination. For all I know I may be sitting dull-eyed in an asylum cafeteria, idly doodling these words onto a table with my finger, or perhaps even restrained in a padded cell, writing on a page that isn't there, sitting in a chair that isn't there, feeling the occasional breeze that isn't there from a window that isn't there. I imagine that either of those is literally billions or trillions of times more likely that the possibility that all that has happened has been real, but in truth, if this is madness, being separated from you is my only complaint.
The second reason is that, even if you did, and even though I trust you, I don't trust everyone who might read this before you. It's incredibly unlikely that they'd believe it either, but it's a chance I can't take. Where I am and where you are aren't ready for each other, and though I fancy myself an optimist when it comes to people, I also can't help but believe that, as a whole, humanity is divisive, suspicious of the unknown, and afraid of change. Thus to protect my new home and my old one, I have to try to keep them separate.
This is probably the hardest thing I will ever ask you to do. I hate myself for asking it, but ask it I must: Please don't look for me. Please don't try to contact me. Neither will work.
I'm sorry. Please understand. Please, please understand. I can't come back, and I can't tell you where I am, but I can tell you this; I'm safe. All things considered, this fiasco could be a whole lot worse. I'm writing this because I want you all to know that I'm alive. . . and because we never got to say goodbye.
Isn't it funny how often people put off saying the things they should have said to another until it's too late? I thought I understood that little cliche, and yet here I am, another victim to our curious inability to tell our loved ones just what they mean to us. I hope that my words bring some comfort in your pain, and perhaps stir a fond memory or two.
Mom: I wish I'd told you I loved you more. I know you knew it, but I still wish I'd said it more often. Throughout my life your support and encouragement have meant the world to me, and without the example of emotional strength and integrity you set, I wouldn't be half the person I am. I am more grateful than I can ever begin to say, and I love, love, love you. I'm sorry that I can't come back, but I promise you that I'm not unhappy here. I know that that probably doesn't do much to dull the pain, but hopefully it does more than nothing. Your son misses you, but he's also happy, thanks in no small part to the person you helped him become. Thank you Mom. Thank you. Tell your family that I love them, that I'll miss them, and tell Josh I'm sorry we won't be able to have a squash fight rematch.
Dad: I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I let us become so distant over the last several years. I'm sorry that I didn't have the courage to just sit down with you and talk out our problems. I feel like the last ten years have been a slow but steady process of drifting apart, and even though it hurt I was always too much of a coward to do something about it. Maybe it's different for you. Maybe it didn't hurt you as much, maybe it hurt in a different way, I don't know, and that's part of what upsets me; I don't know. We grew so far apart that I just don't know, and I did nothing about it. I'm sorry. I love you Dad. Even though we were distant when I disappeared, I still very much did and do love you. You were a steady, practical head when mine was in the clouds, and I know you spent a long time struggling so that Emma and I were provided for. I don't know if I ever thanked you for that, so, thank you Dad. Thank you for everything. Tell the Nanas, Papa, Jim and Kelly that I'm sorry I won't be able to visit anymore, and that I'll miss getting to watch the cousins grow up. Tell Ben not to let the girls experiment with make-up on him!
Emma: Christ, I'm gonna miss you Emma. For you, there's so much that I'm sorry I'm not gonna be there for. I'm really gonna miss seeing you graduate college. I'm really gonna miss seeing you get married, if and when you do. I'm really gonna miss all the banter you and I used to have, over the latest funny Youtube vids or awesome new songs and games. I'm. . . I'm so sorry that I can't be there for you as the years go on. It's my single greatest regret. I want you to know, though, that I am so proud of you. Over the last few years you've grown into an incredible young woman, and I doubt even my disappearance could change that. Never stop being you Emma, no matter what, and know that even though he can't reach you, your big brother is out there somewhere loving you.
I love you all, and I miss you all, and I hope you are all doing well. As for myself. . . well, apart from missing you all terribly, I'm doing far better than I ever would have imagined. I'm not hurt, I'm not frightened, I'm not even alone.
Well, perhaps, in a way, that's not true. In a way, I am completely alone. However, I'm alright with that now. I may be alone, but, even though it's taken some time, I no longer FEEL alone.
To be completely honest, I'm happy here in a way that I've never been before. Remember Kauai? Remember what I used to say about that place? Being there heals your soul. Well, being here is the same, and then some. Everything feels a little fuller, a little brighter, a little, well, better. The only way I can really think of describing it is innocent. There's this inscrutable purity in the land, everything, and everyone in it. That's not to say there aren't jerks, snobs, and petty people here, but they aren't nearly as bad as the ones back home, and somehow it's hard to stay mad at them, even when they cross your path.
The people here, once they gave me a chance, have been incredibly accepting. I'll admit there were some, shall we say, hiccups, at first, but since then everything's been wonderful. We are. . . very different. In fact, I'd call it a testament to their tolerance that they've accepted me as well as they have. Given, in all the most important ways we aren't different at all, something which I'm a bit ashamed to say that they've been better at noticing than I have, but the differences are still pretty hard to ignore at times.
For starters, I'm a giant here. With a few exceptions, all of the locals are very short and lightly built, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that compared to the average citizen here, I'm probably twice the height and well over twice the weight. Needless to say, it's hard not to be intimidating whenever I walk into a room.They also tend to be a bit hairier than I'm used to, and I in turn look almost bald to them, especially since I still prefer my mane in a buzz-cut. Some of them find it a bit unnerving, just like you might find it unnerving that I wrote mane instead of hair. Sorry about that. Colloquial term that's kinda stuck with me. Finally, there's the issue that almost none of the people in this place eat meat. It's about as taboo as taboo can get, and the fact that I can and have eaten meat is a pretty touchy subject. I have to admit though, I realized pretty quickly why they don't. Mom, remember when you couldn't eat meat after you read that article about how smart pigs really are? Remember how much crap I gave you over that? Let's just say I get it now. I can't even think about a steak anymore without it being accompanied by a voice with a mid-western accent accusing me of being a monster.
Bad should-be-jokes aside, my complaints about living here, apart from being separated from you guys, are all fairly trivial. Eating meat here is, needless to say, a problem, and because of that I had trouble getting enough protein early on (cheese and eggs are friggin' expensive here). Luckily for me, eating fish is considered acceptable, and as a result I've actually become a damn good fisherman! I used to think bow-fishing was stupid, too. . .
Technology here is, well, inconsistently developed. There's a small part of me that misses the internet, but because of how. . . I guess the term would be "magical", everything else is here, I don't miss it nearly as much as I thought I would.
One thing I DO miss is my music collection. My iPhone didn't survive the trip here, and so I've been stuck trying to recreate some of my favorites as best I can. Though I'm sure they aren't perfect duplicates, a couple have actually become really big hits here, and I've made an impressive sum of bits off of that. I promise that, to this day, I still give full credit to Lindsey Stirling, Muse, Depeche Mode, Beethoven, and a few others, and if by some impossible chance this place is discovered someday, I have their royalties waiting for them.
You guys will probably enjoy knowing that I'm still singing here. In fact, I'm singing more here than I ever was back home. These people have an extraordinary feeling for music, and apparently I'm good enough to be a big deal here! Thanks to my voice and the songs from back home, I've met pop stars, elite ensemble members, even a chart-topping DJ! (Regarding those last couple, while hanging out with them I have confirmed that I am still a giggly drunk. Never would have guessed classical musicians knew how to party like that.)
As for what else I've been up to, well I've been up to so many things it's hard to put them all down here. Apart from my size and strength advantages, I'm a lot more, um, dextrous, than the natives. Heck, some of them might as well be trying to pick things up with hooves! As a result, whenever I get bored, there are always odd jobs I can do where my strength and nimble fingers give me an edge. Sometimes I fix things, sometimes I work at spas as a masseur, I even bounce at clubs from time to time. Thanks to a lack of transportation technology, and for a couple of months, a desperate attempt to stave off grief by relentlessly working out, I'm easily in the best shape I've ever been in. I even took up martial arts several months back. There were some challenges in finding an instructor, but it's coming along well now. For reasons that no one can really describe, I'm resistant to most of the. . . "techniques" that these people can use, and I'm hoping to capitalize on that, just in case.
I don't want you to worry, but I won't lie to you guys either, things here can be pretty chaotic. It seems that at least every month or two there's some new and looming catastrophe that, at a glance, looks like it could spell the end for everything, and yet it never does. Heck, most of the locals, small and seemingly vulnerable though they are, just take it all in stride. Still, it serves as a good motivator to keep up my fitness and martial arts training. I'll probably never need it, but one might as well be prepared, right? Better to be able to defend myself and mine if need be.
On that subject, you should know that I've made a lot of friends here! They come from all sorts of professions, backgrounds, and walks of life, and yet all of them were willing to help me when things were bad, and have made my time here a whole lot more livable.
The one I probably see the most calls himself Pony Joe. Weird name, I know, but he's a totally awesome guy, and I usually just call him PJ anyway. He runs a doughnut shop here in the capital city, and we meet there once a week for late night story swapping over coffee, something I've taken to calling Joe at Joe's (which annoys him to no end). He brews a pretty mean cup of coffee, which I guess is no surprise because as far as I can tell he NEVER SLEEPS. He claims that he's the only one who works here, and even though I wanna call bull, I've never seen an employee. Regardless of that, he slings the best buttermilk bars this side of ANYWHERE, and has a new story about hilariously intoxicated customers every time I visit.
Then there are my musical friends, Vinyl and Octavia. Vinyl's that super popular DJ I mentioned, with whom I've collaborated to make one of the biggest hits this place has ever seen (with credit to Muse). Her easy smile and laid back attitude were instrumental in getting me out of my depression when I came to terms with being stuck here. Yes, that last sentence was a pun, no, I didn't intend it, and yes, now that I've noticed it I absolutely felt the need to comment on it. Anyway, when we first met I was still being pretty reclusive. Apart from my music collabs and occasion odd jobs, I rarely left the suite that I call home. She found that out during our first project together and LITERALLY dragged me out to one of her clubs that night. There was drinking, dancing, a couple fights, a spontaneous musical number, and a cake heist that made the next day's headlines. We've been good friends ever since. . . I'm not making this stuff up. Is it any surprise that I sometimes wonder if I've gone insane?
As I said, there's also Octavia, who in many ways is Vinyl's opposite, which is interesting because the two are best friends. Octavia's calm where Vinyl is loud, demur where Vinyl is exuberant, and their musical styles couldn't be more different. Octavia is a classical composer and tremendously skilled cellist, which is rather amazing because. . . well, suffice it to say she has an interesting handicap with regards to playing a string instrument, and is infinitely more skilled than anyone with that handicap has any right to be. She's not what you'd expect out of such a prestigious musician. She's so focused, so driven, and when she plays you can tell that she's pouring everything she is into the music, and yet she's one of the most approachable, easygoing people I've ever met. She's actually joined Vinyl and I on a couple of our outings, and once, on a dare, proceeded to drink us both under the table as if it were nothing. Like I said, not what you'd expect.
My best friend is also the first one that I made here. Her name is Zecora, and she's really something else. She's warm, accepting, welcoming, witty, and always seems to see things on some deeper, more mystic level. I don't really get to see her as often as I'd like; she lives in a rather dangerous area of forest, and the closest town is a little place where the residents aren't quite as accepting as the ones where I live. Ugh, there are three sisters that own a flower shop there who still act like I'm going to kill them every time I'm in town. There's also one there who puts me on edge a bit. Whenever I pass through she always seems to pop up and proceeds to bombard me with every sort of question you could imagine, and every time I catch her looking at my hands as if they were the most fascinating things ever. She isn't BAD per se, but she's a bit too stalkerish for my comfort. Alas, I digress.
Zecora was an outsider too, when she first came here. In fact, from what I've gathered, the folks in the nearby town treated her in much the same way they treat me for a while. I imagine that's part of the reason she was so willing to help me when I needed it. In the beginning, when I first arrived here, I was hurt, confused, and utterly terrified. Because I'm so obviously an outsider, most drove me away, but not Zecora. Instead, she took me in, gave me food and a bed, and promised to do what she could for me. She helped me as much as anyone here in the early days, when I was still coming to grips with the situation, and any time I've ever asked for her help she's been there. I don't think I would have made it without her.
On a semi-related note, I've also become something of a master at the game of rhymes, something for which my long suffering companions can blame her.
There is one other that I'd like to mention. Luna; One whom, as far as friendship, I'm not really sure what to call. When we met, I had no home. She offered me one more luxurious and comfortable then I could have even conceived of at the time. When we met, I was a pariah that most people still feared. She, despite having a list of duties as long as I am tall (not to mention a minor language problem), spoke tirelessly on my behalf, and gave me opportunity after opportunity to prove myself trustworthy. It's thanks mostly to her that the general public accepted me as quickly as they did. Most of all though, in my darkest moments, when the wounded animal inside of me took control, and all I wanted was to hide myself away from the world and wallow in my pain, she wouldn't let me. No matter what I said, no matter what I did, she never left my side. When I asked her why, she told me that she knows what it feels like to be so overcome with loneliness that it consumes you. That she knows what it feels like to be an outcast. That, regardless of how difficult it is, she won't stand idly by and watch another soul go through that alone.
It's funny, in a way. I've known about her own struggles since before I met her, but I never really got to see who she'd become because of them until she was helping me with my own. I guess that's not really relevant any more, but it certainly seemed so at the time.
What IS relevant now is that, for some reason that I can barely begin to comprehend, I've caught her eye. The very notion has had me reeling every since she told me. She's the second most powerful person in this place, with a legion of guards and skills that, in spite of witnessing them myself, I still have trouble believing, and for some reason she's interested in pursuing something with me. Given, I suppose I should have known better than to dedicate my premier performance of "Moonlight Sonata" to her (thank you Beethoven), but I didn't really count on it affecting her it quite this way. I've done quite well for myself here, but when one stands next to her, well, it's awfully hard not to feel unworthy.
As for my own feelings. . . they are conflicted. She's so different from me, everyone here is, and even though I don't want to let that affect the way I see them, I can't help it. She is also much, MUCH older than I am. And yet. . . and yet I can't pretend that I see her as just another friend. She probably understands what I've gone through better than I do, and she's never let me face it alone. She takes some getting used to, but once you get to know her, she's kind, giving, amazingly intelligent, witty, extremely fun, and though hers is a different kind of beauty, it would be a bald faced lie to say she isn't beautiful. . . see? I can't even describe her to you without sounding like an amorous teenager. I wish you guys could meet her.
Truth be told, I think that apart from wanting to see you guys again, my greatest wish is that you could see this place for yourselves. It really is like something out of a fantasy tale. There's so much I wish I could tell you, so many things I wish I could describe.
I don't know if you guys remember this, but the ultimate compliment I could pay to something back home was to call it "magical". To pry that word out of me, something had to bring a sense of peace and fulfillment so great that it drowned out everything else, and before I came here, I think I was only able to say it of three experiences I've had in my entire life. Here, though? Here, I've seen things that have made me weep. I've witnessed things of such impossible beauty that they brought me to my knees.
It's actually rather ironic that I can't call this place magical without being redundant, but my feelings are the same, and so I do it regardless.
This place is magical, in every possible way.
Do you guys remember my poem? I think my experiences here are best summed up in those closing few lines:
I have seen, I have seen
I have felt, and I have been
I have walked in the footsteps of gods and spirits and found something akin to wonder
It is those elusive paths where dwells contentment
I wish that I could share this place with you. I wish that I could see you all again. I wish that I could introduce you to all the people who I now call my friends, that they might be your friends too. I wish I could do so many things. I can't though.
I just want you all to know, more than anything, that even though I can't return, I want you to find happiness. Though it's taken time and struggle, I've found mine. The entire point of this massive ramble is that, although I still miss you all, I'm doing okay. More than okay. My ambitions back home paled in comparison to the adventure that was dropped in my lap, and even after a year the excitement I feel is as strong as it ever was. It would be stupid to say "don't mourn me", especially since I've done plenty of mourning myself, but please, please don't feel sad for me. Don't fear that you'll ever mean any less to me than you always have. I'll never stop missing you, I'll never forget you, and I'll never, ever stop loving you. No matter how much time may pass, and no matter how much distance divides us, you will always be in my heart, and until the day I die your voices will keep me company in my dreams.
Find your happiness. Let that be my last request: No matter what, please, please find happiness
I love you
Bowan Dove
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this is a really nice read. It's pretty impressive how you managed to build so much world in only one chapter.
I have also wondered how I would feel if I was stuck in equestria. I guess i would respond in a similar way. Happy but sad for the people I left behind. I wouldn't willingly leave my family for equestria, but if it was beyond my control I would make the best of it. Anyways, great story. Favorite and liked :D
I have pondered this question as you have a few years back you sir have written almost exactly the way I would have its sad really that some people do not grasp the full weight of being stuck in equestria and everyone reacts to it differently. This was a good read for such a short story you earned the "Like"
4016969 Thank you
4017345 , 4019276
The question of 'would it be worth it?' has always been an interesting one to me. Is a chance to explore, and perhaps even make your mark on, a world that no one else have ever seen worth losing everything but the person that you are? And, just as interesting, what does your answer make you?
In any case, thank you for reading!
You know, whenever I daydream about being whisked away to some far away place my favorite means of sending a message home has always been a message in a bottle. It's just such a beautiful thing.
3.bp.blogspot.com/_JrvLKRvXfek/TFSWYQr_gwI/AAAAAAAAAb0/-tyrb-WrNkc/s400/00422415.jpg
already lost my interest. the meat thing needs to go. I'm sorry but its as cliche as cliche can get.
It isn't a fracking taboo at all. Gryphons eat it, and did no one see fluttershy practically kill two fish to feed one of her animals? Yeah, cuz that's taboo!
People don't understand that the ponies understand the concept of animals eating meat >.>
The animals there are just a little more sentient.
4022412
You may have stopped reading before you got there, but I draw a distinction in there between fish and 'meat'. In a world where cows can talk and rabbits can communicate via charades, I'm pretty sure meat eating would be, at best, highly frowned upon. The ponies would obviously understand the concept eating meat, but understanding does not mean approval or comfort with the fact. As far as gryphons go, we've seen one eating an apple, some party candies, and that's it. While it seems like WAY too much of a stretch to think that they wouldn't eat meat at all, we've never seen it done in the presence of ponies (or at least not while in a predominately pony town).
If the meat taboo is cliche, that's because it makes sense and thus is used a lot.
Even so, thank you for giving me feedback. I may not agree with it, but I still appreciate that you took the time to give me some.
...I...HATE....human to equestria fics...
So congrats...your the first to defy that fact!
4022482
Yeah except for the fact that meat eating isn't frowned upon >.>
You see it in the show once or twice.
I also did read up to that part and a little further. I do not agree with that whole "Eating meat is taboo" trope.
It doesn't even make sense either because if Rainbow Dash has known Gilda her entire life, she must have witnessed the griffon eat meat on a daily basis.
So this must mean that ponies know that many of the creatures among them are carnivorous and have witnessed them eat meat on a regular basis. They live in a world where dragon's exist, and there's bears, wolves, etc. So ponies absolutely know that in nature, there are carnivores out there. If they saw a human eat meat, I will agree that might be taken aback by it because that there's so many other things for them to worry about. They don't want to worry about another animal that would try to eat them if they could, but if properly explained that humans are omnivores and that eating certain animals is highly frowned upon here in our world, then you got something going. However, this story just doesn't really it justice for me, and just sticks with "Eating meat = bad bad bad BAD BAD BAD." So that must mean all the ponies have NOT witnessed bears, dragons, or any other carnivores in their world.
I mean, come on, the Timber Wolves are carnivores, and that is something to fear more than a human eating meat on occasion.
I'm not saying your fic is bad because of it, but it is off-putting to me. The whole "Eating meat is taboo" cliche is greatly frowned upon in the fandom. Even HiE fics in general aren't really all that popular if you really think about it. I'm doing one too, but also doing my best to avoid tropes like these. First chapter of it isn't out yet, but it will be soon. Anyway, have fun with your future works. I might give some of your other works a read if I find the time and patience. Cause school, work, and birthday planning going on all week. So I barely have time for myself at this point.
4023841
Could you cite where it happens in the show? I don't recall seeing it there, unless you're talking about Fluttershy's animals, which aren't viewed as being equal to ponies in pony society.
Bears, wolves, manticores, timberwolves, hydras, and dragons (with the exception of Spike, who was raised by ponies from birth) are not members of society in Equestria. The former are essentially dangerous wildlife who either don't know better, can't overcome their own savage instincts, or can't survive without meat. Dragons, on the other hand, have their own civilization that appears to be almost completely separate from pony civilization, as evidenced by how little Twilight seemed to know about them.
Knowing about carnivorous creatures is not the same as accepting them as members of society. The creatures I named (apart from dragons) appear significantly less sentient than ponies, and thus are not held up to the same standards as those who DO demonstrate the same level of intelligence (such as humans), which brings us to Gilda.
In Gryphon the Brush Off, we see that gryphons ARE considered members of society in equal status as ponies. However, we also observe several things about gryphons that are worthy of noting.
1) Rarity described gryphons as "so rare", so although they aren't barred from Equestria, their aren't many of them, and so ponies that have direct exposure to gryphons and their carnivorous tendencies (and thus are used to it) would also be uncommon.
2) We see in the episode that gryphons can and do eat things besides meat, which would make sense in a society that frowns upon doing so. While I'm sure that the ponies know she eats meat, I think there would be a problem if she did so in front of them, so she sticks to apples and vanilla lemon drops. It's a line that even Gilda, a remarkably callous individual, didn't cross.
3) Rainbow Dash undoubtedly does acknowledge that Gilda eats meat, but what of it? Rainbow Dash is one pony, and a cavalier one at that, and the two have known each other for years, giving RD plenty of time to get used to Gilda's meat requirement. It's also worth noting that the two spend the vast majority of their time in the episode off on their own, where Gilda's need to eat meat wouldn't bother ponies who weren't used to it.
It all comes back to the same thing: Acknowledging that their are beings, fully sentient or otherwise, that kill and eat meat, is not the same as being comfortable with it. The fact that gryphons are accepted in Equestria does not mean that their consumption of meat is considered socially acceptable. The scarcity of gryphons in Equestria and the fact that Gilda is never seen eating meat in front of the ponies both support that.
On a related note, gryphons are a fairly known quantity whereas humans aren't known at all. Example: An alien appears that is just as smart as you, and you find out that it eats things that to you are sentient or at least very close (cows, pigs, etc), but can survive by eating things that are not sentient(fish). Would you find it acceptable if it kept eating those sentient or even nearly sentient (having a personality) beings, even though it doesn't need to?
The final thing I'd like to address is your claim that the meat taboo is a cliche frowned upon by the fandom. Can you tell me where you got that information so I can examine it too? I ask because that hasn't been my experience at all. Any decent HiE fic I've read addresses that issue, at least in passing, so I don't see how it's "frowned upon by the fandom" when it's so prolific. As for it being cliche, I addressed that in my last comment: it's constantly used because it makes logical sense.
I know that HiE fics aren't popular, but I didn't really write this for attention. I DID post in on this site for attention, as does anyone who submits a story here (unless they've been commissioned to write or something of that nature), but I initially wrote it because it was a fun way to explore how I would react to a difficult imagined scenario.
Thanks again for the feedback, I enjoy stretching the old debate muscles from time to time. I also look forward to reading your own HiE story, especially since I'm curious as to how you address the meat issue. It's one of the reasons I like this site, there are so many different takes on so many different things! Best of luck finding some time for it, I know how life can make that difficult.
Take care!
4023052 Wow. . . I'm flattered
Thank you so much!
4026826
I would find it perfectly fine as it is a part of nature. In the show fluttershy does kill two fish:
i.imgur.com/guYtO.jpg
There it is! So obviously ponies have witnessed this sort of thing. Yes I can understand the ponies finding it off putting, but there is a level of tolerance that needs to be addressed. There also needs to be a level of acceptance that meat eaters are meat eaters. Look at spike, he's a dragon. He COULD eat meat if he wanted to. We don't see it because Hasbro likes to keep things kid friendly (kind of threw that out the window with Simple Ways with AJ and her bedroom eyes after she bit down into that apple.)
I also might not address the meat issue at all or maybe very subtly in my fic. Right now he is running around in pony form (He is a mage, and drinks a special potion to turn into a pony temporarily) and taking notes on the world before him. It's been three years since he's been in Equestria as well, but none of the ponies know what his name is exactly. Neither do they know where he came from. He's a bit of a shut in right now, but he'll come out of his shell at some point.
Also, if you want to look at it, just pm me and I'll give you a link to the gdoc.
4027701 Once again, OF COURSE ponies are aware that there are meat eaters, and that not all of them are dangerous. Those, however, are ferrets, which, like the bear we often see, do not have the same level of sentience that ponies and humans do, and thus are not judged by the same standards.
Also, once again, I drew a distinction in the story between fish and "meat", meat referring to creatures that are capable of exhibiting a personality. The ponies are okay with things eating fish. They are not so okay with the fact that I (since it IS a letter from me) have eaten (and enjoyed) beef, pork, chicken, etc. They know that I'm just as sentient as they are, and the fact that I am both fully sentient and have eaten those creatures, who, in THIS world are at least semi-sentient, is a hot button. That's not to say I'm not accepted, because I am. I just can't eat meat that isn't fish because they won't tolerate it from a fully sentient creature that can survive on just eating fish.
Am I making sense here? I only ask because I feel like I keep having to repeat the same points.
That sounds interesting. Did he end up in Equestria on purpose, or through some bizarre magical accident? (Obviously you don't have to tell if it'll ruin the story, just interested)
4027747
Well he actually opened a portal to Equestria himself. The only thing my OC wanted to do was get away from some bad people that were after him.
I do plan on explaining later more of his back story. Right now it is chapter one, and I kind of want to get down the gist of what he has been doing for the few years he's been there.
Addressing our little debate: I also just kind of like mess with people about this, but I am quite a bit annoyed myself. I don't like repeating myself either, but I tend to find more issues with some of these tropes and cliches each time they're used. It irks me that nobody really touches upon them to make it their own thing. They just tend to leave it as is.
4027752 I suppose I can see where you're coming from. The meat taboo is quite commonly used as a method of creating conflict. However, I don't think the reason is that people are just lazy so much as that it just makes sense. Even when subjected to scrutiny, the conflict is a logically sound one.
That sounds like an interesting read. I look forward to hearing his notes on Equestria, should we ever get to see them.
4027776
Well, I just gotta hit 5k words before editing it entirely, and saying "YES I'M FREAKING DONE!"
4027802 Bahaha, nice! Give it hell!
4027815
:P
Is it Dave Bonow?
4980098 No, but a massive thanks to you for being the first to guess!
This somehow feels right; real letter from a real person.
)
Very nice.
I can relate to most of it (also the Luna part
Thanks for sharing.
5492473 That's what I was hoping for. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for the comment, and the fave.
You can has review!