• Member Since 21st Mar, 2019
  • offline last seen Last Thursday

RubyDubious


Eyy, I'm writin 'ere!

T

Sunset gives her nonverbal girlfriend, Ditzy, a new voice for her birthday.


Proofread and Edited by Flashgen
Tagged with 'Sex' for some implied naughtiness, though nothing explicit is shown.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 18 )

Adorable story. Keep them coming.

11051010
Oh I've got a few lined up >:3 (Glad you enjoyed it!! Thank you so so much for reading!!)

As I said while proofreading, I think you did a great job with the subject matter and looking at Ditzy and Sunset's relationship. A very cute and touching ending.

Ri2

Dammit this was too cute.

My mom is a special ed teacher, and she uses this tech all the time.

It's nice to see how you wrote this in a positive light. Good job!

11051675
I'm really glad you enjoyed!!

11051683
This comment made me really ecstatic!! I'm super happy that I could deliver a solid representation!! And a positive light is the only light characters like Ditzy ought to be written in! Not in an infantilizing one, or a condescending one, or a weird fetishizing way. They're characters, not walking disabilities!

11051829
Yeah, I know. I am ASD myself, and I have one nonverbal friend who uses Proloquo, so I know a thing or two about this!

(BTW my pony OC is canon neurodivergent, and he's a bucking pony, not a minstrel show!)

Also Derpy Hooves is cute!

11051829
The only thing I'd say regarding infantilising or fetishising is that I wish we'd heard mention of Ditzy being with friends when Sunset was doing stuff with Twilight. To me that felt a little like Sunset is Ditzy's whole world, but the reverse was not true. So I think including something like a passing mention to Ditzy hanging out with Carrot Top the night before or something might have balanced that a bit more?

A really sweet story and very well written.

11052400
Oh, I wrote near the end that the both of them watched Shadow Spade and took breaks in the bedroom for the rest of the day! But if you mean what was Ditzy doing while Sunset was streaming, I could've been more overt that Ditzy was either watching more Spade, or watching Sunset stream, or doing something on her own! Thank you for the feedback!

11052945
Sorry, no, it wasn't so much what Ditzy was up to, it was that we only see her having Sunset in her life. While we see Sunset having both Ditzy and Twilight in her life. Like Ditzy just puts everything on pause for whenever Sunset's got time for her, rather than having more of a life of her own.

I was thinking about this story more last night (the mark of a worthwhile story), and I'm also a bit uncomfortable with Sunset's surprise at the end. It's a middling case, because Ditzy knows they're working to upgrade her digital voice unit, and because she specifically complains about it the day before and says she'd like to sound like Shadow Spade. But still, the idea that Sunset goes and changes something as personal as Ditzy's voice, without asking her first, seems quite invasive to me. I remember reading that Steven Hawking stuck with his old-model American digital voice long after much better ones became available, because that one 'sounded like him.' And I think even if the voice is something Ditzy doesn't like, it'd still be something tied up with her identity, and so it seems to overstep boundaries for Sunset to alter that without getting a final ok from Ditzy first. Which is fine, if it's something like giving medical consent in hospital because someone's unconscious. But just for a surprise present, that feels unnecessarily invasive. A short burst of Sunset getting to feel like she's a great girlfriend, and a lifetime of Ditzy knowing that her voice is something others could change (and feel they have a right to) without her knowing.

I'd compare it to cosmetic surgery or something. Giving someone money towards the cost of fixing something they're unhappy with? Good. Surprising them by transferring them to an operating room in their sleep, getting the procedure done so the first thing they know if it is when they wake up with a new nose or whatever? Not so much. (I am aware that this comparison absolutely does not work on a practical level. It was the closest analogy I could think of).

11052957
Ohh, I see! I did this really for the sake of brevity, (the story was getting to almost 5000 words after all) but were this a story with a much broader scope, or multiple chapters, I would've addressed and mended this fault! That is, make Ditzy less like, "Sunset's Neurodivergent Girlfriend" and more like, "Ditzy Doo."

As for the voice change itself, I completely agree, and I should've really said something more for Twilight making it an optional thing. Think like, Ditzy has her usual voice, and then a setting for Shadow Spade if she so chooses. And as for the short-notice nature of the 'upgrade', I should've also been more clear that this is something Twilight and Rarity have been working on for a long time, and hoped to finish it by Ditzy's birthday! Again, thank you so so much for the feedback!

11052973
Thanks for being so receptive to it :twilightsmile:

D’awww that was adorable. I’ve literally never seen this ship before but I love it, and I love non-verbal Ditzy. The gift itself was super cute and her reaction was priceless! The entire story felt warm and fuzzy like a hug. I couldn’t help but smile my whole way through. Plus, is that subtly trans Shimmer I spot? Love that. Love everything about this

I did like this...

Is Sunset trans btw? I've never seen oblong spiro... but the other pills sound like estrogen XD

11316824
She is!! The spiro she takes is shaped like the one I take! A little brown oval! I'm really glad you liked the story!

Huh, not only is this a nice rare pair done adorably, it’s an intriguing take on a familiar character. My one question is what disability did you intend for Ditzy to have? She’s only referred to as nonverbal, which doesn’t exclude her from being able to speak even a small amount, as opposed to mute, which rules out her being able to speak at all. It’s either me missing the particular line, or the fact that I read this past two in the morning speaking, but there aren’t any references to her knowing sign language. While that obviously isn’t the intended mode of communication for your plot, I figured it would have more use in the human world or provide an opportunity for Sunset to learn something.

Sometimes it was regret for trying to take over a school and raise a brainwashed army and invade Equestria to reclaim a crown that wasn’t yours for a princesshood you didn’t deserve and having to claw forgiveness back from everyone you’ve wronged, but never fully being able to, and especially not from yourself. Sometimes both of them thought of that.

I like the implication that Ditzy also tried to lay siege to Equestria with a brainwashed teenage army.

In all seriousness, lovely work. An unusual take on an unusual pairing, presented adorably. (And I have to love the meta-joke of a character voiced by Tabitha St. Germain giving a voice to another character she voiced.) I'm glad I finally got around to this one.

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