1 - Stay a While and Listen
"Done scared her off good." Applejack thudded her hoof against Big Mac's shoulders lightly. "That showed her!"
Big Mac gave a simple nod. "Ayup."
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "She wasn't doin' nothin' wrong!" she protested loudly, practically bouncing in place.
"Oh, hush, Apple Bloom, 'twere the right thing ta do."
"What's that?" Granny Smith emerged from the house, approaching the gathered group. "What's that I hear?"
Applejack waved a hoof vaguely towards town. "Just scarin' off this creepy zebra that thinks she kin own the place."
"Ya don't say." Granny settled to her haunches. "So, what'd she do?"
"She paws at the ground all weird like every time she roams into town."
"Yup."
"She scares away all the other ponies!"
"Ayup."
Granny Smith rubbed at her chin with a knobby hoof. "Ya sayin' she runs around hollerin' at folks?"
"Nope." Big Mac shook his head slowly.
"Nothin' like that."
Apple Bloom stomped a hoof. "Everypony's just a'scared of her! She didn't do nothin'!"
"Ah reckon ah know what yer dealin' wit' then." Granny slowly nodded and tapped the ground. "Sit down, close yer mouths, open yer ears, and ah'll learn ya somethin'."
Apple Bloom flopped to her haunches, tail wagging eagerly to hear a tale from Granny. Applejack and Big Mac looked less enthusiastic, but neither dared disobey and they settled to hear her words.
"Ya see, a long time ago..."
The sun was shining warmly over a smaller Ponyville. It was just a few years past when the town was founded. It was spring, and we were hard at work getting the fields ready for a new season of produce. It wasn't just the Apples, oh no.
You see, word of Ponyville spread mighty fast, especially with zap apple jam to lure curious ponies hoping to make a new home for themselves. We got some other earth pony families, and a few pegasi. Useful, the second one, for keeping the weather cooperative while we worked the field.
Each new family was met with a smile and open arms. Our little town was growing and getting better for it. We didn't have to eat just apples every day, nice as they were. We had carrots, strawberries, potatoes, and much anything else a pony could put in the ground. We were all working together, to make Ponyville better.
Then they came.
Apple Bloom perked up, ears dancing. "Who came?!"
"Ah'm gettin' to that. Hush and you'll find out."
They came in a pack of three. Two stallions and a mare, but they didn't look like no pony we ever saw before. Two of them, a mare and a stallion, were grey, the smaller stallion was an off-blue. Like rolling colors of the sunset, they came walking into town. They were tired from their trip and they barely had anything but what could fit in their saddlebags.
As they came, ponies left. They had strange ears with fuzzy bits at the end. Their eyes were strange and slit, like a cat or a monster! They had wings, but they weren't any pegasus. They were big and leathery and had fur on 'em. Not a single feather to be seen. They looked like demons come to take us all away, and no pony was in a rush to be the first one claimed.
"You sure this is the right place?" asked the larger of the stallions. "I don't see a single pony."
The mare waved a hoof at the buildings. "You saw the sign same as I did. This is Ponyville."
The smaller stallion lifted his shoulders in a tired shrug. "May be, but I don't see any ponies."
The mare sank to her haunches. "Well, even if they ran off, I'm not walking anymore. We can make a house here, and get to work." The other two grunted in tired agreement, and they did as they planned.
Without the welcome of Ponyville, they built themselves a house. Whenever one of them walked through town, ponies ran off and hid.
Even our marketplace, as young as it was, would be abandoned whenever one of them came past. This worked out fine for them, free eats, but that hardly worked out in their favor as far as the town ponies were concerned.
Now, don't get me wrong. They did leave a bit or two behind when they went 'shopping'. If a sign was left behind that had an obvious price, they were good for it, but they still took things, and that's all most people cared about.
Finally, they couldn't take it anymore, and a town meeting was called. They weren't invited, of course. All the other ponies were gathered up tight in one of the old barns, barely lit with a few lanterns.
"They're makin' the harvest go bad!" claimed one mare with an angry stomp.
"They steal from us every chance they get," added a stallion, with a grunting chorus of agreement from the others.
"Remember when little Sky Chaser went missin'? I bet ah know who caused that..."
The mood only darkened. The elder female of the bunch, my own mother, stood up tall. "Then it's high time we did somethin' about it! No more hiding and hopin' they'll go away, 'cause they won't! No more bat ponies! We don't need 'em!"
The crowd roared with approval at the idea. The plan was drafted and approved in no time at all, for all the plan it was.
The next day, when they figured the bats would be at their weakest, when the sun was as tall as it was ever gonna be, they came.
They were shoutin' and fumin' and makin' all kinds of racket as half the town came down on their little house. One of the ponies planted a huge sign of Celestia in the lawn. "Get back to the night!" The cry was infectious. "Back to the Night! Back to the Night! Back to the Night!" They chanted it with one voice, filled with hate and fear.
A little cry came from inside the building. It sounded like a foal.
"Little Sky Chaser!" came the panicked cry of one of many of the adults.
They rushed the house, determined to save their foal. Now, no pony ever admitted to doing it. They claim it was an accident. They claim they didn't see how it happened. It doesn't matter much anymore. The building was set on fire.
They caught the bigger stallion. He tried to hold them back, shouting and fighting as best he could for his family. He went down under a wave of angry pony bodies. His sacrifice weren't in vain. The littler stallion and the mare burst out of a window and took to the air. The screaming young one became obvious then. The mare was holding a little bat foal, not even a yearling.
The crowd fled the burning house, leaving that poor stallion behind. Those that were outside looked up at the two. They knew Sky Chaser wasn't there. In their heart of hearts, they knew Sky Chaser never was there. They were just a family. That didn't make them much less angry. In fact, I'd say it made them more angry. Being wrong doesn't make a pony anymore calm.
The bats thought the crowd's lull might be a sign of returning sanity, but it weren't. They dared to come closer to the ground and the shouting came back. They loudly proclaimed the bats' wrongs. "Thieves! Witches! Hexers!"
In the end, they were chased away. Good thing they had those wings, or they mighta lost all of 'em instead of just the one.
Apple Bloom's jaw hung open a moment.
Applejack winced and glanced away. "But she's trouble..."
Granny Smith heaved a heavy sigh. "They said that after the bats were gone. We never heard from them again. Ain't much a mystery to me why no bats tried to live in Ponyville again. Apple Bloom?"
"Yes, Granny?" Her voice was small and haunted.
"C'mon. Good fillies deserve a treat." She turned back for the house. "At least somepony might avoid makin' the same mistakes."
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Good to see Apple Bloom understands the lessons of Heaths' Warming better then her siblings.
Feel bad for those bat ponies now.
Its a good thing we got good ol' Granny Smith to teach a lesson or two.
I liked it, but it could've been a bit longer. About half the story is just setup for Granny Smith's story, and that in itself feels a little too condensed.
So why didn't Granny Smith ever welcome Zecora?
This story bothered me greatly, to know that the Apple family and Ponyville had that kind of tainted history to it. It stinks too much of real life bigotry. If that was your goal, congratulations, but I can't upvote a story with that as a major plot element, even if the lesson at the end is "don't do that."
8373095
Why not? I'd say that the story's moral was clear and presented very well. We've seen this kind of behavior to be CANON to MLP when Zecora first came to Ponyville.
Down voting a story not because of it being bad or aving a bad them but because the theme angers you is pretty eh... Weak minded.
It's a controversial topic but it's a topic that is very real and very current. Even moreso than 5 years ago.
If we don't look at these topics with an open mind then somewhere along the way, we're doomed to repeat it.
There ya go. Two themes I found in this fic.
8373173
Who said anything about downvoting? Did you even check the vote ratio when you typed that, since there are no downvotes at the time of this reply.
I just said I wouldn't upvote.
Zecora wasn't chased out of town with the intention of killing her, unlike the background given in this story. She wasn't chased out of town at all. The only hostility came when Applejack feared Zecora was messing with her sister.
I think you are mis-reading this story. The parallels you are trying to make just break down between this story and current events.
First, there is no reason why Granny Smith should consider what was done a mistake, not within the context of this story. That is, what changed between the end of her tale and now that she considers it a bad moral? Without that jump, it just falls flat as a warning tale. No tale on what happened to them, on how Granny Smith came to see it as a mistake. No soul searching. No reparations, punishments, or penance. It was just given as a bad thing the Apple's ancestors did, and that was that, and it's bad now despite seemingly acceptable then.
Second, any ties to current events just don't neatly fit. Zecora is the subject Granny Smith launches into this story about bat ponies about. The bat ponies never came back to settle in Ponyville. If it was continued discrimination against Bat Ponies there might be some merit to the comparison, but without that it's hard to consider it a similar idea, and not a related but different concept like taking land away from natives (and even then, that isn't the point of Granny's tale, so...).
I'm sorry for the down voting comment, my mistake.
No, of course they wouldn't show that on the show... But the suddenly empty marketplace? Definitely happened!
A group of ponies heading out to deal with the belligerent? Check.
Come on... you have got to notice the similarities by now. The only reason why Zecora wasn't under threat of being killed or being chased out of town any time soon was because of the CMC intervening. I would presume that as any sentient being they'd want to have a problem that occurs too often taken care of soon enough when the effects start to show.
Also, what those ponies did is hostile, though in a passive-aggressive kind of way. Would turn into the regular kind soon enough if someone didn't intervene and resolve the situation.
There is absolutely a reason why Granny Smith should consider it bad. I'd guess from the way she'd tell it from her perspective and being that she was very young back then, I think she'd be inside of the CMC's position.
The only difference? The CMC intervened before it got to that level, she didn't and look at what happened.
One of them clearly died from what I can tell in the end with the others flying off. Why wouldn't this traumatize or make Granny Smith have some form of emotional response.
My guess is that she rewarded Applebloom for doing what she wasn't able to do.
You're half-right with this one. The situations are different somewhat from what NORMALLY goes on IRL. But you have to look at the general picture.
Without bothering to get to know the Thestrals, they'd judged them, ridiculed them and murdered one of them.
They didn't realize that deep down, they're all Ponies.
I know, cliche. But it's also cliche to call out a cliche especially when that cliche is correct.
Also, people were chased or left out of businesses because the owners were dickheads. Don't forget this fact!
Heavy-handed, but still a good message. A sad one, but a good one.
8373494
I hope it rings true in the way Granny might approach a matter. She never struck me as the pinnacle of subtlety.
8373243
I don't think you remember this episode as well as you think you do. The CMC didn't exist at this point. It was just Apple Bloom, and she wasn't even looking for her cutie mark in the process. Thus, it is actually an interesting case study on Apple Bloom before the whole CMC thing.
And that's why I won't upvote this story. The implications seriously disturb me that they were going to do that, that it was on their mind. Ponies we know and love from being fans of the show willing and able to act in that way.
8373494
Out of curiosity, what is the message of this story, beyond "Ponyville has a history of chasing out and killing ponies that are different"? Is... that the message that I should be reading into it? Because that's all I get.
8373617
You have a choice of "demonizing those who are different solely for their differences only ends in tragedy" and "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I recommend them in a 3:2 ratio over ice, with a sprig of mint as a garnish.
8373620
I'd like to think it was this one, but, uhh, Applejack and Big Mac and all the other ponies of Ponyville clearly are not aware of this story. Think about the implications of that.
8373617
.... the lesson of the story is to not judge a book by its cover and that mob mentality is a terrible thing.
8373626
Out of curiosity, how is that the lesson? Considering these bat ponies never returned, and were judged by their "cover", so to speak, with terrible consequences that weren't addressed as being wrong in any way. They never learned the contents of that "book" before they "burned" it. Not even after the fact.
None of the townponies, even Granny Smith's own family knew about the story, so it appears there is no lesson learned as none of the ponies are aware of it. That Granny Smith is sharing the shame of her family only after her family is going down that path again is disturbing. That's like telling a child not to stick a fork in an electrical outlet until after it happened, or right before it was about to happen.
8373629
I admit confusion. Applejack is being stubborn about it, Apple Bloom is showing signs of not going down that dark path. Granny Smith is happy about that, but she warned both.
Then stuff happens, poison joke, yadda yadda, they make a new friend, and Apple Bloom never stops her stance of 'Give her a chance, darn it!'
You seem to be seeking closure, but the episode does that for us. This is wedged in the middle/start of that episode.
The bats don't get that closure, this much is true. History is a dark place. Ponyville did, in the end, finally come around. I should imagine if another bat did show up, they would be welcomed with far more grace. It's become a more forgiving place. They have unicorns, and donkies, and a zebra all as neighbors now. Yay!
The ponies were dark, but they learned, eventually. Would that humans could follow suit.
And that's why I can't upvote the story. I'm sorry. There are still no bat ponies in Ponyville, even afterwards, so I feel there is no closure. All Zecora has in common is she is different. The true subjects of the story just have crap heaped upon them and that's presented as a fact. Did their town have any redeeming qualities to make up for the fact it used to be a bigotry enclave?
As this is portrayed in third person, the addition of "You see" here is somewhat immersion breaking. I suppose it could be Granny Smith saying this, which is better, but I feel it's still not a great way to start this particular segment.
Welp, I can't say I particularly liked this story after reading it. It's an interesting, albeit dark premise, certainly, but I have several issues with it.
One is the format. Being told secondhand through dialogue the actions of this story, without attention to details, setting, and thoughts and feelings of the characters involved, as well as lacking vivid action just makes the story somewhat dull. I never particularly felt invested in this story line. Sure, the moral is good, but all the same I just wasn't invested.
Two, this doesn't quite add up with regards to the mlp episode it's based on. If ponies were this xenophobic towards outsiders (i.e., nonponies of the three tribes), then I would expect Twilight to have had to call in Celestia and/or the royal guard to ensure Zecora is treated well. I was liking this up to the point where Granny Smith said ponies just hid from the bat ponies, but when they got violent that just seemed grossly out of, well, character based on what I've seen from the show.
Sure, you could have this be an AU-nothing wrong with that. But, even considering that, as this is all told second hand rather than experienced, it makes me less able to sympathize, understand, or feel what is actually happening. I guess you could say ponies got more tolerant between Granny Smith's generation and the current one, but if so you don't portray it very well with the opening.
But my biggest issue with this story is the bat ponies themselves.
Why did they even bother moving in?
Okay, let me go through this one step at a time.
From what I can see, they are portrayed as Equestrian citizens not expecting such fear from their fellow citizens. There's no "I hope we're treated better here" or any comments of the like. They clearly migrated to Ponyville with the hopes of establishing a new home, finding work, so...
What was their goal?
Okay, they want a home...sure. But, as everypony avoids them, they can't get work. They built a home in the town proper, not in the country, so they're not farming. So they built a house in town and had no source of income. They can't sell produce-no one is going to buy from them, they can't work for anyone as no one is there to hire them, they can't setup a business or anything. So they just build a house and sit there, occasionally buying stuff from the market when they notice prices on the stalls, living off what little money they brought with them?
Secondly, who in their right minds would stay in a town where their fellow ponies are avoiding them like they have a particularly nasty variant of the plague that makes genitalia explode with pus? They can't find work here, and their own neighbors avoid them-all of them. This would be somewhat like if a black family learned of a deeply, deeply racist town that has a history of discriminating against any and all blacks-maybe throw a few lynchings in there-and, with no financial incentives or any incentives at all, moved to this little all white town.
Now it's not that same situation, admittedly, but I think it's similar here. This bat pony family has no income, no interaction with the community, and no reason to live there.
Now, Zecora is in a somewhat similar situation in the show, but in her case it's explained. She's a potion maker. She likely came to the Everfree for the unique and probably magical plants that grow there. While it would be nice to buy stuff in Ponyville, she likely doesn't need to. She can get most of the food and resources she needs from the forest itself. If Ponyville dissappeared, she'd be alarmed, but otherwise fine (For a while, at least; she probably has some things she can't make/gather herself, but she's rather self sufficient).
So...all told, I don't believe this happened at all simply because it doesn't add up. I suppose this could be a story Granny Smith made up and she made/had mistakes in her story that don't account for everything, but if that's the case I feel the story the author wrote here doesn't hint towards that properly.
Overall, this story is not terrible by any means-there are truly terrible stories on this site, and this one doesn't come close. However, I can't say it's great, either, and it has some issues.
Story about country bumpkins being country bumpkins
8373660
Seconded.
By and large, until the episode happens, there isn't any sort of lesson learned at all by the ponies of Ponyville.
8373620
That's exactly what I was trying to say XD
8373617
Oh yeah... forgot that the CMC didn't exist back then. I usually associate Applebloom with the CMC.
8373660
I can respect that, but sometimes we all make mistakes and suffer the consequences. The point of making those mistakes is learning how best to avoid them in future and if it is inevitable that you make it again, you have someone (In this case Applebloom), who drags you out from the gutter -- by your neck kicking and screaming if they have to.
I'd say that after Zecora came to town, the ponies did learn their lesson. For goodness sake, there's two Donkeys and a Zebra living in there.
Not to mention that after learning of the Changelings' change (What an awful character design. Makes me puke rainbows), I'm pretty sure that they realize that there's good in everyone.
That not everything that is unknown is hostile.
it got featured... have to say i love the debate the fic started
I don't see why the batponies would stay in Ponyville either, especially with the safety of an infant to think about. There must have been at least a few ponies being friendly with them, even if they were keeping quiet about it, enough to make them think that maybe they were slowly winning ponies over.
And afterward, surely the batponies would have gone to the authorities in Canterlot to demand justice for one who was killed. The investigation would have cast a pall over Ponyville for years, and maybe that would have been when Granny came to understand that something shameful had happened. Unless batponies were truly so ostracized that they were better off living in caves in the wastes until Luna returned.
8373927
Spoken... as someone who has had the benefit of never being an underprivileged person.
It doesn't work out that way most of the time.
8373629 I think the lesson IS that there was no lesson learned. Sometimes the harshest lesson of all.
There's a strong lessen to be learned from this story, just cause someone looks different, doesn't mean there evil. If one person alienates someone for their appetence, suspicion and paranoia will grow. Misunderstandings will grow out of control and things like what happen in the town hall could happen. Then its a lynch mob forms up to try and take justice in their own hands only to wrongly accused the innocent.
Isolation and separation of a group can put others who don't see them in the same light would be treated differently.
For now someone give AppleBloom a cookie for being best pony of the day
"Batponies, zebras, they could be fine. Now, Pears, on the other hand…"
8373927
Except this was during the time in which Luna was trapped on the moon, and one could imagine that the bat ponies (the ones who made up most of Luna's lunar guard) were likely mistreated and ostracized afterward
8373660
K... Ponyville grew as the lesson was finally given to them in the form of Zecora.... Redeeming quality.
Granny Smith teaches that hating something for no reason doesn't justify anything She puts AJ in her place...politely.. In front of her little sister.. then gives the good girl a treat.
And the batponies, who they scared off? If this history were true.. After all this time, with the return of Luna, the Elements of Harmony now living there, and newfound goodwill spreading... Now would have been the perfect time to try again at public life.
But as to AJ somehow calling the batponies back and making amends...you know, for closure... They've got wings, and if the story was true, probably knew what kind of greeting they were likely to get... if even one of the Element bearers greeted Zecora so coldly (not that they would know, but still).
Sometimes the lesson isn't one that leaves you with warm and fuzzies. Besides, this was a commission piece from an author who uses base material, but addresses lots of stuff the show shies from. Not every story ends with the good guy making the right choice and the bad guy going down... Hells, sometimes there are no bad guys, only bad decisions, but at least AJ wouldn't be forgetting that lesson any time soon.
8373660
AJ can't or won't see the same thing, too set in her ways. Only with time and reflection has Granny Smith been one to see the real damage done. This isn't a happy ending, but one thats likely a running undercurrent in near each of the pure tribe cities. Canterlot is a unicorn city, Ponyville is one for Earth Ponies, Cloudsdale for the pegasi. There are extreme biases against doing anything but that certain way in show.
Is it that far a stretch to have people hated so far, trying to find anywhere that might be a safe spot, and running into nothing more than wrong time, wrong place? Its a social parallel, and just told more in a kids light tone. To a generation that can grow up seeing them as just who they are. No bias, no judging, no prejudice. Who can help set the wrongs so long ago right, by making the choices those around granny smith couldn't.
8373953
While they may not know, and in our interactions elsewhere, we've not agreed in many a case. Offer why and how it doesn't work, instead of approaching in the manner that you did? I do agree in that so often, with a social, racial, or standing discrepancy, that some things won't click to others in the mindset they see with. It is just so alien. I believe I get where you approached from in this little short, and the nature of fear and hate run deep. And while some cant see why a view filled with such is so wrong, because its all they know. It is a part that is learned, or acquired.
8375238
It takes a fresh mind to be willing to look at the world in a new light. And sadly, well, three generations of corrupted thinking. I thank you for putting into words on why this one isn't settling with so many. So have a great one, eh?
Might not have known she existed until Apple Bloom tried to visit and then later her family did. She seems to spend most of her time asleep.
8373927
8375431
Fair enough. I will admit my unhelpful reply.
Alright, so you hear there's a nice town. You pick up all your things and you move to the nice town. You've already moved, you're there. You don't get a super warm welcome, but the town seems put together right and you aren't told to outright leave, not that you planned to go back where you came from anyway. There is a reason you left there, whatever reason that might be.
You make ends meet. You make a few friends even. They aren't there when things go south. They may be sad when you're gone, but that doesn't make you less gone.
Black people would be happier in nice black towns, instead of trying to move into white towns where they'll be attacked. That's the lesson that seems to be put forward here. It doesn't sit well with me.
I hope that was more helpful.
It just occurred to me that the thestrals(when they first arrived) were a Husband, a Wife, and their son.
8376004
Yes, snark aside. Its not something anyone should be labeled under. That they are, shows more than anything how far so many people need to step up and avoid hate and fear.
It's an ugly thing to see, and it still goes on in places. Especially in southern locales. I don't like it, despite seeing it. People are people, and with how much is done under such a superficial thing as pigments? I don't agree with such hate. I dont agree with such fear.
I am white, yes. But I label and work under a stigma much the same as one blamed through something beyond their genetic start. I get talked down to. I get talked about like I am not in the room in many cases, or near enough to my face because of what I am. The only slight saving grace is that I ended up protected under federal law. So i get folks that slyly imply, that decide to speak about what I am in subtle tones, instead of overt ones that could cost them their job. I am stuck in many a place from ever going forward.
Jobs? You're kidding right? Not someone like me. I am lucky to have what I do. I am. Some people, yeah, can't see how things are through the looking glass. But I do, and sadly, It hurts to see that people really can't comprehend what it's like. So venom aside, thank you for writing this.
8376171
Yes, but why would you live there?
I'm sorry. I hope things improve. Glad my story hit the right notes. I was asked to write this and tried to be faithful and respectful to the subject matter.
8376190
Because I can't go anywhere else.
No one else wanted me. I can't really leave, so I have to endure. And thus spend my time vicariously online, only stepping out into public oh so rarely.
And you really did, which is why I think its so hard to do so objectively here. And where this is a slight issue of mood dissonance, that you couldn't help. I don't believe anyone could. And that is what throws folks. It's not a thing that can be helped, because if it wasn't light in how its touched on, it would evoke the wrong message compared to how its said here, which is very right.
8373243
I love how people just.. forget that Zecora lived in what amounted to an unnatural place full of monsters, literal dark magic, creatures that appear to be something but are in reality horrific beasts, and yet somehow this one unusual creature is living, and thriving in a forest that terrifies the place nearby on a daily basis. It's like someone coming out of the gates of hell on a daily basis.
I honest to god wish they'd just used a pony so that we wouldn't get these constant "Ponies are racist/xenophobics" everytime..
8376394
So you're complaining because they used a Zebra instead of a Pony? You're also complaining because a subject that needs to be addressed is getting addressed? Am reading this correctly?
If a pony was to be used instead of a Zebra, it wouldn't make sense for the town to be so fearful considering that there are and were already Ponies like this -- the mystic kind.
Even then, the whole theme of misunderstanding the unknown wouldn't work out too well and you'd be better off using the Zebra or some other species.
Also, shying away from problems like these and letting them fester tend to have the ability to not have happy endings...
*Glances over at Modern US polarized climate*
If this isn't what you're trying to say can you elaborate much more clearly what you're saying or rephrase it?
8376394
I agree that in the episode it almost certainly wasn't xenophobia that was the problem, but rather that Zecora was creepy all on her own. If a pony was in the same position, it'd probably get the same reaction. Instead, her zebra-nature (pawing the ground having a different meaning for zebras than for horses) was used to enhance that, to the detriment that it implied certain things that many stories expanded upon to have ponies be xenophobic (despite having donkeys and griffons walking amongst them with no comment, until, say, Gilda started being openly hostile).
8376089
Coming back to think on it... will we get a oneshot revealing what happened to that Mare, Her Son, and her Foal after the mob killed her husband?
This is pretty good. It really made me feel bad about the bat ponies.
I can't emphasize just how good this story is. It is just breathtaking. Great job on it!
8376479
I always thought the problem in the episode was that Twilight's unenlightened, backwater, working class friends jumped to conclusions based on their past experiences with stuff that came from the Everfree, even though it really wasn't their fault, seeing as how they never moved beyond their hick beliefs and traditions because they didn't have her rich, diverse university education.
(With the right word choice, we can spin the story in just about any way we might want to)
8376695
If someone requests it in the Patreon, yes. This was, itself, a request, a quite unexpected one.
8373073
Missed this one. I imagine because she went along with everyone else and avoided them. She wasn't part of the actual riot, she was just a quiet pony that tried to stay out of trouble, as so many do. She obviously regrets that decision.
Who made the picture?
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A random google search.
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Source set!
...wow,didn't expect this much division in a Silver story...
We liked it, for how brief it had to be. Of course the violence was perhaps slightly too high, but then again, a little more realistic than what show cannon could allow anyways.
Keep going! ;)