Because Celestia fixed that problem in The Altercation in Anonauthor’s Xenophilia. Anonauthor also said that ‘Lero forgives, but he doesn’t forget’. That’s why he bows with his eyes open (though he may not be aware of why).
b. Dude, that dream sequence? With Lero? Totally stolen from Chasing the Dream, right?
Yes, the dream sequence with Lero is based on the one Rainbow Dash had in Chasing the Dream, also by Anonauthor. I’ll borrow his words for this one as well:
For anyone who’s confused... that second vision may be a dream of the future, or it may just be a dream. I don’t actually plan to go that far in the future again, so I’ll leave you all to make up your minds.
This has got to be my new favourite Xenophilia story. I always felt Celestia was treated rather poorly or brushed aside too often in other Xenophilia fan works (not in the two canon ones, the interaction with Celestia there was fine), so it is very, very refreshing to have this story where Celestia gets paired with the herd, or at least she's shown as having interest in doing so. Even if the dream is just that, a dream, I still like the idea of Celestia and Lero. We've had so much Lero x Luna, that Celestia x Lero is a breath of fresh air.
Admittedly, I am a bit (okay, perhaps a lot) biased, given that Celestia is my favourite pony (closely followed by Luna and Twilight) and Twilestia my favourite pairing, but so what? This is still a good story!
I'm actually hoping the 'something' from Lero's unconsciousness becomes a plot point some time. How would it react to ponies? Is it benign, violent, or simply there? The war game scene was great. It's little things like that I'd love to see introduced more into the setting.
“Gawrsh,” Octavia said, “I shore thank ya’ll for them purty words, hyuck.”
Octavia?! The way she talks, I think she must be Fiddlestick in disguise.
“It was an unconsciousness, Celestia, because Lero will never be aware of being there. He wakes up from this and will remember nothing, unlike dreams. It was inhabited with ancient beings of terrifying power, alicorn-like power.” Luna shook her head. “No, not beings. I’m afraid I’m equinizing what I experienced. There was nothing sentient or sapient here. I believe forms would be a better term… types. Forms.” “Forms?” Celestia said. “Like ideals?” “Perhaps,” Luna said. “But with a very basic personality. I shall refer to them as archetypes. Lero’s self, his very selfhood… disintegrated here, sister. He merged with these archetypes.” Luna shook her head, and then looked directly at Celestia. “It was extremely difficult for me to read
I guess I should follow this story now. For so long it was listed as complete and I never gave it a second glance. Now it has, like, four more chapters.
I find it interesting, that you chose celestia and not luna, as being the new addition, although i do vaguely remember a fic that celestia is worried about lero being dangerous and luna mocks her for being infatuated with lero. You know now that i think about it i have not seen many celestia x human fics.
To me, it just sounds like the subconscious. All of the forms and archetypes that are 'ancient' are just the things that have been programmed into humanity over the millennia.
“Gawrsh,” Octavia said, “I shore thank ya’ll for them purty words, hyuck.”
GGRRrr [Is this supposed to be Fiddle Sticks? Because I am sure she played the cello in that high society party.] GGRRrr [I don't know whether to be mad or happy with this.]
Yes, that's Octavia. Yes, I am trolling a little. I like going against fanon, even if it's just for the sake of going against it.
Vinyl Scratch speaks in word salad (schizophasia) and has to have keepers to translate her gibberish. Her and Octavia don't know of each other, and will never meet.
BOO!! Lero was dead on about the whole dream sequence thing, but you did it! You had Lero giving the 'Dream Sequence Gospel' in a dream sequence! Bad form.
4421677 And I must agree with Lero's little tirade in this chapter. As with "Chasing the Dream," these prophetic dreams-or-are-they always hurt to read. In the absence of an actual happy ending, it's rough to see even the pale illusion of such a fate.
That verbal thrashing Luna gave was quite funny. Did they take her lollypop for her as a foal and she held on to that grudge? In other news, Berry Punch has terrible/amazing timing.
Octavia having that accent made me genuinely laugh aloud from the sheer disparity from her demeanor, profession, and the usual nature of her fan-works voice acting. Kudos!
I like the story so far. The whole collective unconscious. .awesome! The hick Octavia thing...too random and it did not feel like a good fit for this story. Honestly I could not finish reading the chapter once I got to that part. It was like hitting a speed bump going 70 mph. I am not against that type of humor mind you, it is just the fact that up until this point in the story this was not the kind of humor that was being used.
Everyone complaining a lot Octavia should probably go back and read the whole story again. Mister Goat Licker likes to throw peculiar little swipes at fanon here and there. Majes me laugh every time.
Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth.
4422273 I love it. Screw the fanon. Hell, Xenophilia already goes against fanon by not making Lyra human-obsessed. Do more. Also, more olde-tyme Luna cursing.
Pinkie remembers her preincarnations and seems to think that everypony does as well. Headcanon accepted.
Luna was fantastic here. "Oh dear, I forgot to dispel my penis. Just a moment." And the aspersions cast on the Gentry were fantastic in variety, creativity, and imagery. As for the depths of the human consciousness... well, you found human magic, Luna. And it found you.
Hicktavia was an interesting choice. I can't help but suspect she intentionally emphasized the accent in support of the settlers. After all, years of concerts in Canterlot would lead to one picking up the accent. But this way, she could remind the Sejm that even famous cellists can be country girls at heart. Fiddlesticks would be proud.
All in all, there are a lot of interesting tidbits here. The psychic obliteration of a mad botanist, a new ship, a man falling prey to the very literary device he scorned... this story is getting very juicy. Eagerly looking forward to more.
4422472 It's not that new. I've not only been using "cornilingus," I've inspired a story because of it.
4422273 I know people are upset that Octavia is a hick, but they have to remember she knows the Pony Pokey. If she was a posh noblepony she would have never learned that song.
Berry Fuckin' Punch. If we're dealing with archetypes, then she has got to be the fool. I love that, in your pocket reality anyway, she's not just some dumb slut.
I suggest deriving from the Greek "hippo", not the Latin "equus", when constructing ponified versions of "anthropo-" words: "hippology", "hippomorphize", etc. It's more etymologically consistent, and, more importantly, it makes for better-sounding words.
It’s true that it’s a bit odd to people who are used to thinking of “hippo” as short for “hippopotamus”, but I still think “equinology” or “equimorphize” sound awkward enough to make it worth it.
The entire time I was reading the part about Lero's subconscious all I could think was, "Monsters! Monsters from the Id!" You're going all Forbidden Planet on this aren't you? Incorporeal creature of mass destruction that technically doesn't exist? Please tell me Luna didn't accidentally drag one of those from Lero's subconscious?
Well, I was hoping the Octavia part would result in, "Ha I say, what a jape! Oh that Goat Licker, such a card," instead of the anger it seems to have caused. I'm sorry, 4423965 , that it caused you to stop reading.
4425678 I probably got it from you, then. I knew I got it from somewhere, but couldn't remember where. Thank you.
4442843 Not as overt as Forbidden Planet. More shadowy.
I considered having it be a trickster archetype that was duplicated outside of Lero, and, after long temporal shenanigans, it turns out to be Discord, who finally finds his parents (Lero and Luna). That idea didn't appeal to me very much, mostly because it seems so obvious.
I actually prefer to wait with reading these chapters 'till I find a moment that is just right, when the reading can take its due time and I am allowed to ponder upon the development and try to soak up the meaning. I think you manage to pack so much and many different emotions in your writing. Between joyous humor and ideological philisophy, moments like the dream almost brings a tear to my eye. You relay mood and atmosphere in a sublime way.
I dunno why people find the octavia hick so offensive, it just made me giggle-snort like pinkie pie, and i'm a dude! And luna pulling curses out of her ass like that made my jaw and sided ache, my family think i'm weird enough as it is
I don't particularly mind Octavia having a southern accent, it's just that it seems to have been taken a bit too far here. It's as if Octavia went straight from Rarity-refined to Hayseed Turnip Truck-yokel, which hardly seems like the type of pony that high society would want to hire as musician.
Got confused about hicktavia in the comments cuz I saw none in the text. Turns out author deleted that part. Also TFW author's comments are no longer highlighted by purple header.
Here’s an attempt to anticipate questions:
Because Celestia fixed that problem in The Altercation in Anonauthor’s Xenophilia. Anonauthor also said that ‘Lero forgives, but he doesn’t forget’. That’s why he bows with his eyes open (though he may not be aware of why).
Yes, the dream sequence with Lero is based on the one Rainbow Dash had in Chasing the Dream, also by Anonauthor. I’ll borrow his words for this one as well:
This has got to be my new favourite Xenophilia story. I always felt Celestia was treated rather poorly or brushed aside too often in other Xenophilia fan works (not in the two canon ones, the interaction with Celestia there was fine), so it is very, very refreshing to have this story where Celestia gets paired with the herd, or at least she's shown as having interest in doing so. Even if the dream is just that, a dream, I still like the idea of Celestia and Lero. We've had so much Lero x Luna, that Celestia x Lero is a breath of fresh air.
Admittedly, I am a bit (okay, perhaps a lot) biased, given that Celestia is my favourite pony (closely followed by Luna and Twilight) and Twilestia my favourite pairing, but so what? This is still a good story!
4421831
I'm a sucker for Celestia x human too. As far as this story is concerned, though, there won't be any additions to the herd.
I'm torn between my favorite part here.
I'm actually hoping the 'something' from Lero's unconsciousness becomes a plot point some time. How would it react to ponies? Is it benign, violent, or simply there? The war game scene was great. It's little things like that I'd love to see introduced more into the setting.
4421845
It will. It gives me the excuse to make things weird (for a little while).
Octavia?! The way she talks, I think she must be Fiddlestick in disguise.
And now I imagine Lero summoning Personas
I guess I should follow this story now. For so long it was listed as complete and I never gave it a second glance. Now it has, like, four more chapters.
I find it interesting, that you chose celestia and not luna, as being the new addition, although i do vaguely remember a fic that celestia is worried about lero being dangerous and luna mocks her for being infatuated with lero. You know now that i think about it i have not seen many celestia x human fics.
4421951
To me, it just sounds like the subconscious. All of the forms and archetypes that are 'ancient' are just the things that have been programmed into humanity over the millennia.
GGRRrr
[Is this supposed to be Fiddle Sticks? Because I am sure she played the cello in that high society party.]
GGRRrr
[I don't know whether to be mad or happy with this.]
4421951
4422051
4422198
Yes, that's Octavia. Yes, I am trolling a little. I like going against fanon, even if it's just for the sake of going against it.
Vinyl Scratch speaks in word salad (schizophasia) and has to have keepers to translate her gibberish. Her and Octavia don't know of each other, and will never meet.
BOO!! Lero was dead on about the whole dream sequence thing, but you did it! You had Lero giving the 'Dream Sequence Gospel' in a dream sequence! Bad form.
4422307
It's meta-commentary on the text, inside the text!
Herein lies the corniest pun in a pony story.
4421677
And I must agree with Lero's little tirade in this chapter. As with "Chasing the Dream," these prophetic dreams-or-are-they always hurt to read. In the absence of an actual happy ending, it's rough to see even the pale illusion of such a fate.
4422314 Also inception. Because that was the dream sequence inside the other dream sequence.
Looking good, Goat Licker!
Thanks for the newest chapter.
That verbal thrashing Luna gave was quite funny. Did they take her lollypop for her as a foal and she held on to that grudge?
In other news, Berry Punch has terrible/amazing timing.
I'm oddly upset about the Octavia accent thing but I can't stop laughing.
As above, so below. As within, so with out.
The human subconscious can, in my opinion, be easily described as a basket full of gods.
Octavia having that accent made me genuinely laugh aloud from the sheer disparity from her demeanor, profession, and the usual nature of her fan-works voice acting. Kudos!
4421677
Okay, first, I would like to say that I'm glad to see you're updating again; it's been too long. That being said:
I'm sorry, but WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DUDE!?!?! Octavia is high-class, if not of noble-birth, not some backwoods, inbred hick!!!!
Sorry, I just needed to get that out of my system.
I like the story so far.
The whole collective unconscious. .awesome!
The hick Octavia thing...too random and it did not feel like a good fit for this story.
Honestly I could not finish reading the chapter once I got to that part.
It was like hitting a speed bump going 70 mph.
I am not against that type of humor mind you, it is just the fact that up until this point in the story this was not the kind of humor that was being used.
Everyone complaining a lot Octavia should probably go back and read the whole story again. Mister Goat Licker likes to throw peculiar little swipes at fanon here and there. Majes me laugh every time.
4422135
Luna would love to have a talk with Carl Jung.
4423452
Luna said, "No Lero, you are the gods."
And then Lero was Yog-Sothoth.
4424432
Wait a minute...
Hmmm subconscious things be brewing me thinks...
4422273
I love it. Screw the fanon. Hell, Xenophilia already goes against fanon by not making Lyra human-obsessed. Do more. Also, more olde-tyme Luna cursing.
There's something you may want to edit.
I'm pretty sure that should be "pegasi", and I also think there should be a comma after "days".
4425142
Thank you. I've added the comma, although 'pegasus' as plural is a stylistic choice. I don't think there's an official plural for it.
Pinkie remembers her preincarnations and seems to think that everypony does as well. Headcanon accepted.
Luna was fantastic here. "Oh dear, I forgot to dispel my penis. Just a moment." And the aspersions cast on the Gentry were fantastic in variety, creativity, and imagery. As for the depths of the human consciousness... well, you found human magic, Luna. And it found you.
Hicktavia was an interesting choice. I can't help but suspect she intentionally emphasized the accent in support of the settlers. After all, years of concerts in Canterlot would lead to one picking up the accent. But this way, she could remind the Sejm that even famous cellists can be country girls at heart. Fiddlesticks would be proud.
All in all, there are a lot of interesting tidbits here. The psychic obliteration of a mad botanist, a new ship, a man falling prey to the very literary device he scorned... this story is getting very juicy. Eagerly looking forward to more.
4422472
It's not that new. I've not only been using "cornilingus," I've inspired a story because of it.
4422273
I know people are upset that Octavia is a hick, but they have to remember she knows the Pony Pokey. If she was a posh noblepony she would have never learned that song.
Berry Fuckin' Punch. If we're dealing with archetypes, then she has got to be the fool. I love that, in your pocket reality anyway, she's not just some dumb slut.
i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/8193285632/hAEB53152/
I suggest deriving from the Greek "hippo", not the Latin "equus", when constructing ponified versions of "anthropo-" words: "hippology", "hippomorphize", etc. It's more etymologically consistent, and, more importantly, it makes for better-sounding words.
4433603
As far as pony stories are concerned, I avoid using "hippo" because I think it's distracting. I may have to reconsider my position.
4434959
It’s true that it’s a bit odd to people who are used to thinking of “hippo” as short for “hippopotamus”, but I still think “equinology” or “equimorphize” sound awkward enough to make it worth it.
The entire time I was reading the part about Lero's subconscious all I could think was, "Monsters! Monsters from the Id!" You're going all Forbidden Planet on this aren't you? Incorporeal creature of mass destruction that technically doesn't exist? Please tell me Luna didn't accidentally drag one of those from Lero's subconscious?
Well, I was hoping the Octavia part would result in, "Ha I say, what a jape! Oh that Goat Licker, such a card," instead of the anger it seems to have caused. I'm sorry, 4423965 , that it caused you to stop reading.
4425678
I probably got it from you, then. I knew I got it from somewhere, but couldn't remember where. Thank you.
4442843
Not as overt as Forbidden Planet. More shadowy.
I considered having it be a trickster archetype that was duplicated outside of Lero, and, after long temporal shenanigans, it turns out to be Discord, who finally finds his parents (Lero and Luna). That idea didn't appeal to me very much, mostly because it seems so obvious.
I actually prefer to wait with reading these chapters 'till I find a moment that is just right, when the reading can take its due time and I am allowed to ponder upon the development and try to soak up the meaning. I think you manage to pack so much and many different emotions in your writing. Between joyous humor and ideological philisophy, moments like the dream almost brings a tear to my eye. You relay mood and atmosphere in a sublime way.
You bastard
Doge-nes?
4422314
The generally used term is "lampshade hanging"
I dunno why people find the octavia hick so offensive, it just made me giggle-snort like pinkie pie, and i'm a dude! And luna pulling curses out of her ass like that made my jaw and sided ache, my family think i'm weird enough as it is
I am... slightly confused at the moment.
“Gawrsh,” Octavia said, “I shore thank ya’ll for them purty words, hyuck.”
*tilt* Not sure where this came from - was it part of a dream sequence as well?
not upset, just trying to wrap my mind around it all :)
4661759
No, that's just how Octavia talks in this story. She hasn't yet spoken in the show, so I can get away with her hick accent (mostly) for now.
4663433
Ah alrighty then :) Just had me a bit confuzzled hehe
I don't particularly mind Octavia having a southern accent, it's just that it seems to have been taken a bit too far here. It's as if Octavia went straight from Rarity-refined to Hayseed Turnip Truck-yokel, which hardly seems like the type of pony that high society would want to hire as musician.
I removed the Hictavia part as it seems way too distracting.
Got confused about hicktavia in the comments cuz I saw none in the text. Turns out author deleted that part. Also TFW author's comments are no longer highlighted by purple header.
Can I write a short spin-off story on this where Luna locates an ancient lorekeeper and asks it about Lero?
Lot of high concept stuff here. Awesome.