• Member Since 26th Feb, 2014
  • offline last seen November 18th

kudzuhaiku


She's looking at you. Yes you. And she is judging you with her eyes. There is no escape.

E
Source

It bothered me that I cut this from The Perilous Romance of Swans. So, I've cleaned it up a bit and let it see the light of day. It happens when Gosling is sick.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 40 )

So many implication ty for releasing this.

It has potential:pinkiecrazy:

You going to drop a bomb in TPROTS aren't you.

One of the reasons I gave myself for cutting this was the Stiff Upper Lip Society reference. I don't know how many people have read Venenum Iocus... I mean, it helps when there is context. A lot of people have read this and are shocked to discover that it is part of a larger universe.

It was a tough choice. I wanted a story that could stand alone on its own merits, to some extent. Ugh, I keep second guessing myself.

7407150

The bombs are already away.

7407156 i have been wondering so much about that...
7407159 oh...... OH! Oh! I got it! I got it. I figured it out.

This sorta fits in with my headcanon when ti comes with Alicorns. An alicorn is in a sense 'born' one, but in the sense of the potential is there. They themselves mut unlock that form.
Celestia has the power to see these potentials, but it is via her seheer experience and age. The soul cannot be comprehend via intelligence, but via wisdom.
I've kinda linked the concepts of Animancy and Necromancy myself. Animancy is the magic of the soul, be it of the living or the dead, but Necromancy is the corrupted, abusive form of it.

Of course i ewasn't sure if i wanted to go with these subjects in a story. Been carving one out since i first discovered da ponies. But this...... i think its convinced me a bit here.

......hmmm. If i can offer up a thought. What if the powr of the Tree of Harmony was, in a sense, Animancy?

7407314

......hmmm. If i can offer up a thought. What if the powr of the Tree of Harmony was, in a sense, Animancy?

That was sort of the general idea of what I was going for in the Weed Verse.

Flamingo wanted to bear an element of harmony. She wanted to be the Element of Pinkness. More will be told about her story in time. In a sense, she got what she wanted. When she was cut down, and was on the verge of death, it was the tree that made her what she is now. She became something that reflected her potential.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, let me be blunt:

Your worries about cutting this is like worrying that your 10000-story building will be too tall by adding a guardrail that's 2 inches taller than standard.

Your works are massive, and so many hints and clues are dropped and left and right and in plain sight that YOU are the only one that can keep track of them all.
But that's just the limitation of the formatting here, what with the single-chapter posting you use.

Short version: keep it, or not; you're more than capable of making it work regardless.

7407314

Also, intelligence versus wisdom:

Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom is knowing that you don't put it in a fruit salad.

:derpytongue2:

7407332 also thinking on the fact that the elements of harmony rpresent friendship and harmony. basically multiple souls connecting to one another and obtaining theri truest potential.
one could say that magic that entails emotions has its roots in such power.

Honestly I really enjoyed this. I would not have minded if I had to read another 1,000 words where this fits into place in TPRoS.
But I'm glad you desided to restore this. I enjoyed the Stiff upper lip society reference as well. Once I realized that all of these storie are in one established continuity I had to read them all! I'm glad that I did so.

-BFBL

7407345
And charisma is selling your tomato fruit salad as Salsa.

7407678
The six Stats in terms of Tomatoes and Eggplants:
Strength is the ability to crush ripe tomatoes and eggplants with you bare hands;
Dexterity is the ability to dodge a thrown tomato or eggplant;
Constitution is the ability to withstand eating a rotten tomato or eggplant;
Intelligence is the Ability to recognize that tomatoes and eggplants are fruit;
Wisdom is knowing not to make fruit salads from them;
Charisma is the ability to sell your 'zesty salsa' made of eggplant and tomato fruit salad.

7407687

The version I heard was similar:

"Intelligence is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing that a tomato would not make a good smoothie."

"But isn't a tomato smoothie just ketchup?"

"GUYS I FOUND THE BARD!!!"

...y'know, Kudz, at first blush, I think it's good that you cut this.

It's good, and it's definitely great worldbuilding, but I don't know that it's relevant to the Swans story. At least, not at the moment--but I am admittedly rather behind. And I, for one, am fond of lean stories, with (at least most of) the fat trimmed off. Helps focus the story on what's important.

That said, it's good that you released it anyways. It's an interesting read, and helps to frame Celestia more as a clever manipulator (in the best possible way).

Keep it up!

Is this canon in the show or is this a much better excuse for Twilicorn?

7408617

:twilightoops: - I am not an acorn!

Personally - as someone who is more a fan of worldbuilding than is perhaps entirely sane - I like this rather a lot. I actually like the intermeshing of the full Weedverse, and the oblique reference to the SULS is, well, oblique enough that one needn't have read Venenum Iocus. Or, if nothing else, while one might not exactly know what Celestia is referring to, it's not mentioned in such a way that one needs to, in order to understand the scene.

7408629 do you need some Cooked duck?

You know Gosling's "diversity," argument would hold more weight if alicorns weren't ageless. "Congratulations Seville the value of your Earth Pony insights mean you get to wither away with the sands of time while I watch." (The foreshadowing is pretty strong that Gosling is going to become an alicorn himself before this series is over)

It's a good thing RealityCheck doesn't post on Fimfiction anymore or his rant could go on for pages.

7408745

Perspectives.

Gosling speaks from a relatively inexperienced mortal viewpoint. He's young, still developing his world view, and goes with what has left the largest impression on him during his short life: the guard. He sees diversity as being an asset. Stating his opinion doesn't make him right or wrong; indeed, it is only an opinion, but he does have some valuable insight.

He is also quite stoned out of his gourd at the moment, doped up on opiates and painkillers.

Gosling has displayed some remarkable shortsightedness that nobody seems to have picked up on yet. At least, nobody has commented on it. He tends to see things as they are, rather than as they could be. This isn't a bad thing. He's observant. But he could do with a little educating and refinement.

It's funny... he has several flaws that people seem to have not noticed. I am not sure why this is and I can only venture some guesses.

7408783 The major problem is we LOVE that bastard. Is hard to see flaws in someone we love, at least when they are not that obvious.

We love Luna, but it´s easy to see her flaws...you know, the whole "conquer the world and make it drown in shadows" thing.

Hmn, very interesting. It does open up the possibilities quite a bit for Sunset, Shining, Blueblood, etc., any number of worthy possibilities. Maybe even Starlight, though that definitely brings up the "gotta be very, very careful" issue.

Also, silly Celestia, alicorn swans don't quack.

7408783 I'm aware. I saw the discussion on the Wardens and how people didn't get that their disconcerting moral greyness was part of the entire point.

I suspect that if becoming an Alicorn only granted eternal youth and access to the magics of the other two tribes Celestia would be happy to grant it to every pony in Equestria. It's the whole powerful enough to move the sun and moon on their own that's the sticking point preventing her from doing so.

7408783 immortality is in itself a curse, least if robbed of the mortal pserceptive. It creates sterility of the mind, body, and soul. The higher you look the less you end up actually seeing. You become blind of what is around you and their significance.
When a single pony accomplishes more things in a hundreds years of lfie than an immortal has in five millennia, who is truly less signfiicant?

Gosling is short sighted but he is not wrong. Harmony is not built upon all thigns being the same, but on difference, and overcoming them.

7408783 It is difficult to point out flaws when one also shares them. It's considered 'normal' in the eyes and therefore not considered a flaw.

7412736
Sorry I ruined your 69 votes D:

I like the reference to The Weed. I know it's the same universe but we just don't see the crossover often.

7413219 well, now its 96, which is almost as good.

i think this chapter lies out the Weedvers' overreaching plot of positive growth rather nicely and clearly

7408629 I should be an acorn, I live in an Oak tree...err tce!:derpytongue2:
At time you wrote this, including it probably seemed a mistake, but now in hindsight of current chapters I think it would give better background to the overall story now. Although it lays it on a bit thick that suggests what you intend for Gossy.:rainbowdetermined2:

Hmmm....

I actually really love this chapter, it does a lot to enhance the Weed 'Verse as a whole. I am sad to see this wonderful chapter was cut from your story.

Well that was cute.

I wonder what sort of potential Gosling has and how it would change for him to be the first male Alicorn in recorded history?

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