Spiders. Nightmares on eight scuttling legs. An entire group of creatures so bizarre, menacing, and creepy in their habits that a specific phobia has been dedicated to them. It's proven to be surprisingly popular. Or unpopular, as the case may be.
For Fluttershy, though, there's a lot more to them than that. A friend to all living creatures can hardly discriminate amongst her charges. And surprisingly for her, a day when she devotes her time and energy solely to these alien animals proves to be one of the most enjoyable ones of her week.
Chapters (5)
This isn't going to be drawn out. The rest of the chapters will be published later today. While I had enough of a set-up to get these ones submitted, I'm still dealing with the details of the finale. Optimistically, I should have the complete story done before midnight.
Only Fluttershy could persuade spiders to be vegetarian.
And voila! One completed story. I hope you enjoy reading it.
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But of course.
More seriously, there's always been an awkward dilemma hanging over her "friend to all animals" persona; either she condones the killing of prey animals, or she lets predators starve to death. Short of just taking the easy way out and giving all animals pony appetites, I think Fluttershy's solution here is probably as show-friendly a way of resolving that dilemma as it's possible to get.
This was a lovely story with great pacing, and wonderful character interaction. You've written it in such a way that all the spiders come off as somewhat cute. Not as cute as peacock spiders, but cute nonetheless. Good job!
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Many thanks for your fine comment. After the response to this story went quiet a fair way back, it was a nice surprise.
Oh, peacock spiders are such colourful, adorable creatures with their wagging abdomens. I would never aim so high. Still, one of the wonderful things about spiders is their amazing diversity, which makes for all kinds of cute antics like those of the spitting spiders and the "wild west" desert spiders. It was a pleasure to write.
I like how you leave the Hair-Splitters half of the story vague, as it starts to make more and more sense the closer we get to the conclusion.
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Thanks for the comment.
Funny thing is that it and the conclusion it led to weren't in the first draft at all. Originally, the story had no connecting theme, the Hair-Splitters Nation was just another pony nation, and Fluttershy's encounters with her friends amounted to a bunch of random stuff that happened. It was around the time I wrote out Applejack's scene that the idea to connect them all to Twilight's mission - and then to make the Hair-Splitters spider-ponies - first occurred to me.
I always love this joke.
You've already read it, but full review here. An easy like and I still love your turns of phrase, though my unsureness about the final chapter remains.
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I'm two months late with this reply, but: Yep, me too. I couldn't resist.
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Speaking of lateness...
I think we've said what needed to be said on that Louder Yay page, but in any case, thanks again for the review.