You are entering another dimension, a land not of sight or sound, but of mind and magic. It is a realm where light hides amongst the shadows, and your enemies wear the faces of your friends. This is a dimension we call … The Gray Zone.
Submitted for your consideration: Canterlot, the capital of Equestria, the gleaming city on the mountain. Just yesterday, the city was host to a lavish Royal Wedding—and it fought off an invasion of shapeshifting insects. Today, the ponies fancy themselves safe. But as they will soon discover, their worst enemy still walks among them, unseen. The real nightmare has only begun …
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My tribute to a classic episode of The Twilight Zone.
Many thanks to my pre-readers:
JapaneseTeeth
KuroiTsubasaTenshi
Yami Vizzini
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Chapters (3)
Changelings just don't work very well as a metaphor for any real-life group. That is all.
¡I love the Twilight Zone! You beat Titanium Dragon to the punch because he planned to do this story for a while, but never got around to it.
¡The Changelings are on Stirrup-Street!
Or maybe that is Maple Street.
6825452 Interesting. I didn't know he was also planning on something like this. Where did he talk about the idea?
I believe that it was in the comments about timetraveling Spike.
Do not get me wrong; I do not accuse you of plagiarism. This is only a coincidence. This is what plagiarism would look like:
I make a movie which starts with an Imperator-Class Stardestroyer in front of a desertplanet. Baddies lead by a Big Bad wearing a mask want an astromechdroid ith critical information in it. A force-sensitive pony rescues the astromechdroid. The baddiesa nearly capture the astromechdroid, but the force-sensitive pony and the astromechdroid escape in the Millennium Falcon. While the droid and the force-sensitive pony look for the goodies, the baddies use a superweapon for destroying a planet. The goodies, using X-Wings and the Millennium Falcon destroy the planet-killing superweapon.
¡Now that would be plagiarism; or, if made by a movie-company which bought the original movie, show an extreme lack of imagination and laziness!
I like the reference to the Would-It-Matter-'Verse. I wonder whether Fluttershy is a changeling. I suppose that I shall have to read for discovering.
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Sorry, but I was busy, but I found the comment:
¡The Changelings are due in Ponyville!
And as I stated, I am certain that it is just a coincidence.
6827396 I was worried that this story might provoke arguments over politics. I never expected it would spark provocative statements over The Force Awakens.
i.imgur.com/3rtEepo.gif
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About the politics, it is important to determine whether the relation is like sheep and wolves (no peace is possible), or like different groups of ponies (peace is possible). I personally tend toward the latter; the aggressivity of the Hive encountered in the show seems to come from its Queen.
The aforementioned movie is the best example of what the courts would agree is plagiarism, if that Farce Awakens would have been made by another entity.
You and Titanium Dragon came up with the same idea. It seems an obvious coincidence.
Sorry about the gap of several hours between remembering the comment and posting the comment; I had to go at the time. The thing is that once I got back it, took only about 5 minutes to find the story and the comment.
Honestly, I didn't even take away specific references to WIMIIW as such, since Fluttershy would probably say something like that anyway.
Overall, yeah, this is scarily in-character.
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Well, I had "Would It Matter..." and "Yes It Matters" on my brain when I came up with this idea. So it's partly derivative, but I still wanted my story to be one that stood on its own even if you hadn't read the originals.
Fluttershy really does strike me as the one who's most likely to look for the good in changelings. Honestly, I think "Would It Matter..." is more interesting if you go against the author's interpretation and decide Fluttershy really is a pony.
One of the most damning criticisms of my first draft was that Twilight seemed out-of-character. I toned her down as much as I could, but unfortunately the story falls apart if she's too reasonable. So it's nice to hear someone thinks I got her right.
Great story - I'm surprised that this episode of Twilight Zone wasn't crossed over earlier. You did a good job in adapting the episode for MLP-FIM and making Chrysalis actually way smarter than in the show.
The epilogue is very nice - much like how the show would take the Twilight Zone-like plot (and the changeling Moondancer twist was a good surprise
)
And Chrysalis...: Where is the KABOOM? Where is the Canterlot-shattering KABOOM!
Well, as I like to say, all's well that... ends a beginning well.
Perhaps not quite as happy as we're used to, but hopeful.
I feel like Twilight and co. got kind of a bum deal getting arrested for being the target of an angry mob, but I suppose so was everypony else- when stuff like that happens, all the authorities can do is clamp down and sort it out later, which they clearly did. Still, here's hoping that they gave as good as they got when push came to buck.
Mmm, I haven't had bug juice in years....
And I suppose I never will again, with Celestia's new laws giving those bugs a free pass.
6848020 Fair enough. I was torn about writing this part precisely because it would wreck the whole Twilight Zone tone.
The optimism of My Little Pony and the morbid cynicism of The Twilight Zone don't play well together. I guess both series have similarly high ideals (after all, a cynic is just a frustrated optimist), but Twilight Zone says "Here's how bad things will be if you don't live up to those standards," while MLPFIM says "Here's how great things will work out if you do live up to the standards."
So I separated this ending as a sort of compromise. That first chapter works as a standalone story (it pretty much ends the same place the original Twilight Zone episode did) for any readers who prefer the bleaker tone. And the epilogue is an optional thing for any readers who'd prefer a more optimistic tone.
6848442 Oh, yeah. They gave as good as they got. Rainbow Dash did say it was "kind of fun", after all.
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To be fair there are some Twilight Zone episodes with a more optimistic/heartwarming bent: One for the Angels, Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room, The Night of the Meek...
Magnificently done. I regret throwing this in the Read Later bin. I especially regret letting it sit for more than a month. An engrossing read from start to finish with a good message and a great ending. Thank you for it.
On August 20, 2016, there will be an episode on MLP with this very plot.
I looked at the mob and siad, "What? No torches and pitchforks?"
7387411 Yes, a terrible lack of organization on their part. At least Limey tried: she had a rake!
But seriously, the show goes back and forth on that stuff. IIRC, when they confronted Trouble Shoes, the angry mob had actual torches and pitchforks—but for their battle against the buffalos, those same ponies used pies. I went with the lighter side of that gradient to prevent this story about mob violence from getting too dark.
With all this paranoia and prejudice, even if the changelings did attack, they would probably starve to death. They feed on love, you know.
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Scientist: I have combined the DNA of the world's most evil animals, to make the most evil creature of them all!
[A pod opens, and a cloud of steam rolls out. The steam clears, revealing a pony inside.]
Pony: Turns out it's pony.
7392922 Who said Chrysalis was telling the truth about that?
The twist with Moondancer at the end was great. Didn't see that coming at all!
8167069 Glad you liked it.
I picked Moondancer because I couldn't pass up the irony of Twilight unknowingly defending a changeling.
ones
Fear is the mind-killer.
It was a natural outgrowth of her own and the mob's arguments: she's been acting different ever since she heard Cadence was getting married…
8189898 I still need to read Dune.
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You just gave me an idea for a fanfic.
She's got a point...
A lesson we can all take to heart. XD
Obvious reasons, indeed.
8911510
Nice to see someone caught that.
the mob logic reminds me of this: