She tries to provide a living example. Demonstrating how much better things could be when you're just happy and willing to get close. Of course, there are those who say that Izzy gets a little too close. But when she's in a new place every day, the disorientation is almost constant and she just needs to center on something sort of familiar... then at least there's other ponies. Frequently at a proximity of roughly seven tail strands.
Maretime Bay isn't fully comfortable with that. Which may be why the bulk of it just took out a restraining order. Trying to get Izzy to back off, just a little, until she learns to respect personal space.
Or maybe they're just trying to make an example out of her.
Cover art from a vector capture by Lavender-Bases.
(Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.)
Oh, that's a good detail!
I know exactly how Izzy feels.
oh, this reminds me of a Xanth novel, where people living in a strange world would get bigger if they gave things away.
the main villain had turned into a giant, by CHEATING, he was giving away things he STOLE from ANOTHER world!
By coincidence, there was a pony named Usual Suspect living in Maritime Bay. He was a good friend of Sheriff Hitch, and visited the station house every time there was a major crime reported just in case the Sheriff needed somepony to interrogate over a grill of carrot dogs and tater puffs, or to spend the night in jail in order to 'flush the culprit out into the open.' He was what the town tended to call 'a bit off' since the one time he had stopped for a red light on Mane Street when the timer broke, and stood there for four hours while the repair crew worked rather than cross against the light.
11850701
:nods:
Odd how patterns persist. Pinkie Pie had zero clue as to how not to unsettle ponies either.
Ah, the desperation to understand the unwritten rules that everyone else already read. Yeah, this is familiar. Heck, it's even worse for Izzy given a life spent at maximum emotional intensity just to compensate for her surroundings. She's a social blobfish brought up to far lower pressures; no wonder she's having such a hard time adjusting. And depending on how many ponies sign up for the group restraining order, I'm not sure whether she'll even legally be allowed to go into town.
(As for Pipp, at this point, I'm convinced she's being haunted by the ghost of Zecora. I don't know what she did to deserve that, but it's the only reasonable explanation.)
Looking forward to seeing where you go with this, especially given canon G5's increasingly more casual stance towards the concept of consequences in general.
Izzy. You have just been dealt with the blow that all us autists fear. Getting a restraining order/in trouble with the law because we didn't understand the rules. You are living my nightmare. I love you my fellow autist. Stay strong. Stay with friends. Survive. I am so sorry. You don't deserve this. Please survive this.
11851345
Hey, the cop shouldn't shoot here. He wouldn't want to hurt the dragon.
:bitter & angry over a dead 15yo:
Dammit, Posey, you ruin everything!
Just like Izzy, I am very much NOT crying. Definitely. For sure.
sympathy headache
Vetiver is my favorite, but oak moss is also superior.
I had to go back. But I remember it took me 3 months to try going into the water...
(I also have a tattoo of the loveliest and saddest landscape in all the world on my forearm. I'm hopeless.)
Like circs, this almost gave me a headache. Superbly evocative writing, Estee!
Posey is a grump, but she's not a villain. She clearly wanted to get back at Izzy, but not hurt her.
The bracelet, as an apology without ever saying "sorry", fits her perfectly. (And fits Izzy's leg, too. Posey may not have taken measurements, but she's a professional crafter.)
Painful, but a good pain in its own way. There’s nothing quite like a stark reminder that you’re not just getting back at an annoying concept. You’re hurting a person.
Of course, some folks can look past that (or even enjoy it,) but Posey isn’t one of them. This was harsh, but enjoyably so, and a welcome emotional counterpoint to Tell Your Tale. Thank you for it.
I have read all of your Gen5 works, Estee, and hope to read more of the Gen4 works in the future. Your worldbuilding is superb, but your ability to get into the heads of characters and showcase how they view the world is unmatched by almost anything else I’ve read. I love, in particular, how your Gen5 works interlink. “Resting Serial Killer Face” first came up in Lawgistics, as a hilarious description from Hitch’s inner monologue. And now we see Izzy’s perspective on her interactions with Maretime Bay, and see that comedic moment from Lawgistics played far more seriously and far more heart-wrenchingly. Each of your Gen5 pieces alone are excellent character portraits, but together they show the dynamics of this group of friends by revealing how each of them sees each other. It’s excellent.
Pipp: I'm not that short!
...Posey, you're a sack of shit.
Where's a lion and a witch when you need one?
Poor Izzy
Ever since I saw Izzy I was getting Nuerodivergent vibes from her. You calture that mindset well. Microexpressions, that was a really good one. When you have difficulty understanding emotions carefully watching for facial patterns to atteibute them to specific emotions is a really important and useful tool in our kit. If I don’t understand why or how an emotions works, I can at least recognize when it is present and respond with previously acceptable replies.
Acting happy may have been a way to try and inject joy into Bridlewood, but it is also a good coping mechanism for neurodivergent’s for fitting in. I wish it wasnmt necessary, but unfortunately most people these days expext your emotions to be plainly visible. My neutral expression thats most natural doesn’t really express what I actually am feeling, so I keep having to ‘mask’ myself by putting on a face that matches what I’m feeling even if I don’t enjoy it.
Part of me wondered if Izzy’s ‘serial killer smile’ was partly a facial tick. Its common for Tourrets to have facial tic’s, for me it’s a rictus grin where I bare my teeth, pull the corners of my lups into a big smile, and lift and tense the muscles in my neck/jaw. I’ve learned to do it once I’m unobserved since I recognize it looks unsettling, but its still a thing I have to manage. Since tics are so similar to compulsions and rituals I wonder if much of the old Bridlewood rituals are born out of that sort of behavior. The intense depression may be a symptom of other much more wise spread conditions, and I don’t know if any of the three tribes even have words like ‘autism’ or ‘tourrets’ for diagnosises.
I love this story but seeing ponies just don’t/cannot get over their prejudices no matter how much time passes in universe, it almost makes me think that ponykind may be a bit of a lost cause. That inherant hatred and selfishness is just so baked in, if even Twilight and her friends failed to establish long term harmony, is there any hope for the rest? Granted we don’t know how it all ties together yet but still.
Another fantastic story that I really enjoyed estee