They are the Hoardsmiths. And they are completely insane.
Now with a Spanish translation by Spaniard Kiwi!
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Skywriter
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Interesting. Will follow.
What you did there, I see it
I feel like this is metaphorical of something...but I can't figure out what. Regardless, it was very interesting. Short and sweet, just the way I like it.
Edit: Now I understand. I knew it was something involving the fandom, what with how the ponies were creating so much. I haven't really been following news related to Hasbro recently so I didn't connect the dragon to the company.
Inspiration can come from the strangest places, at the strangest times. And, as you yourself noted, genius and madness are often separated only by degrees of success. I, for one, admire the Hoardsmiths, though I'd never dare go and see their work for myself. One part of that sentiment is a
bowel-loosening fearrespectful wariness of the dragon. Another is the worry that I too would be consumed by passion and never want to leave...In short, cool story.
A parable, eh?
Knighty! KNIGHTY! Someone's posting meta-fics! Where's the "report" button gone? RULES MUST BE OBEYED!
2097489 THE DRAGON IS HASBRO
I'm so glad that wasn't all just leading up to a pun.
So, I figured it out about halfway through the paragraph that begins, "The chink that Goldie had made in the dam became a flood." What about you guys?
2097516
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This truly captures the essence of the fandom within it. Hasbro is the dragon, and we are the ponies. It is not through malice that the dragon protects its hoard, but by its nature. If we wanted to, we could go and create away from the hoard, and what we create would then be our own, but the hoard lures us so, and so we stay.
It's a tale we would all do well to heed.
I have nothing particularly meaningful to say, really, other than that this was a wonderfully crafted metaphor... and that I might have to steal this "Hoardsmiths" concept for an RPG session...
2097560
Who, I ask you, would write a story which seemed at first to be about a lesson or something but which ended up being just a framework to tell a stupid pun?
Oh, right.
Yes, we are all completely insane.
Aww. Calling me insane? How adorable.
Guess what?
I'm not insane.
I am so, so much worse than that.
I feel no pity, no love, and feel sad only when something is extremely sad.
Anger? Same deal.
Am I a sociopath? Not really, because I know what I am, and I do feel some emotion.
But calling one with a mask immovable that is cracked over emotions insane is an understatement.
You know...this doesn't even have to be a fanfic. The parable works even without the Equestrian setting. I wonder what the general public would make of it. Would they sympathize with the Hoardsmiths? Or would they see them as, well, insane?
Mind, they are insane
Completely insane.
...
Ah well. Sanity is overrated.
2097516
Are you sure you aren't at the cave's mouth right now? Stay awhile, friend. We've many wonders to show you. Pay no heed to the rumble and the occasional flame. Life is fleeting. Beauty is forever, or until the dragon sets it on fire. Whichever comes first.
2097560
Metafiction? I see no sign of it. Nope. None whatsoever.
Would I lie?
2097781
I'm wondering if FOME trolling is trolling us or honestly didn't pick up on it.
But the dragon only cares about the gold. It's indifferent whether it's an ingot or an artist's masterpiece.
So while the dragon can take all the stuff back into the hoard it can never take the idea and the meaning from the Hoardsmiths.
2097805
It would be some damn subtle trolling. If indeed, it is trolling, my hat is off.
Well done, writer. Well done.
Who's right, between the hoardsmiths and the dragon ? Only time will tell.
That was awesome. A fav, two thumbs up, and all of my love.
2097781 Oh. Oh. Herp-a-ma-derp.
2097805 I honestly completely failed to pick up on the parable. At least, until now. I'm not sure if that says more about Skywriter's skills or my lack of self-awareness.
2097979
A subtle allegory is a skillful allegory.
Besides, you are to be envied. You essentially got two Skywriter stories out of this. And it is well known that one of the few, very very few things better than a Skywriter story is two of 'em.
RIP Fighting is Magic... *sniff*
Sad thing is, we might be able to work some things out with Hasbro if they were willing to take a risk with their brand image. How much money could Hasbro make for getting a cut from publishing Fallout: Equestria (Though ZeniMax media would have to be in on it as well).
Companies just aren't structured to keep up with consumer content demand anymore. It isn't impossible to build a framework where we can make beautiful things and there is profit all around (look at Red vs. Blue, for example).
I won't fave this story for meta reasons, but have a thumb for inspiring thought and reflection.
Commence read.
I liked it.
Hmm. Nice story. I feel as though there is a lesson in there, if only I was awake enough to put it into words.
*Reads comments*
Wait, what? Metafiction? What?
*Re-reads story*
Oh. Oh, wow. Well played, ser. Well played.
2098047
Regarding Fighting is Magic, have you seen the way Lauren Faust responded to the news about the C&D? Now that's classy.
What is Lauren Faust in this extended allegory, I wonder?
Oh! Took me a minute after finishing the story, but I got it!
You, sir, are a clever man.
That was beautiful.
And the fact you didn't name the dragon "Orbsah" merits a medal or something.
I wouldn't have been that strong.
Ya know what this story is?
It is a thing of beauty
As always, my friend, you astound me.
Also... I can't help but think that this works even better if you think of it less as a dragon and more as a hydra, some heads sleeping and some occasionally waking to act and others bickering, except that hydras don't hoard... do they? I don't know any personally, not yet.
(And Millimax would love to meet Goldie. They probably wouldn't get along, but still, that sculptor's love for particualr materials....)
Hasbro as a dragon. I wonder if they would be flattered by that?
I love eet!
Your mind works in mysterious ways.
2098200
That is now my new headcanon name for that green dragon.
2098140
I did see that, and I'd love to see some palette-swapped Faust characters. Unfortunately, with some of the developers dropping out, I think the damage is done.
From what I know about game development, it's a pretty delicate process and a setback like changing the art style and removing all reference to the show is a lot of effort down the drain. With the morale drop and fewer devs, Mane6 is going to have a huge challenge shifting their project (assuming they still want to build a pony fighting game).
I'm just going to vote Bungie for best dragon ever.
This is about Bronies and the cave sculpture was the mane-6 Fighting is magic project right?
As Applejack wandered through the Hoardsmith camp, marveling and shaking her head, she suddenly stopped dead.
"Rainbow Dash?" she said, jaw dropping.
"Oh! Hey, Jackie," Dash muttered around the pencil she was frantically scribbling with. She smiled but didn't get up.
"What're you doin' here?"
"What does it look like?" Dash spat out her pencil and grinned. "Just writing the most awesome story in the universe." She gestured around them. "It's about here."
AJ opened and closed her mouth. "But Dash, ya write Daring Do fiction. Ya sell Daring Do fiction. Tarnation, you're good at that. Shouldn't you be off earnin' a living instead of bein' here swapping stories with hoardsmiths who won't give you nothin' but praise?"
"C'mon, AJ, this is art." Dash's grin broadened. "Pure. Unfettered."
"You could do that out there, too."
"But. C'mon. Dragons! They're super awesome! They're chock full of, um, allegory and stuff!"
A unicorn tourist wandered by while they talked, raising his camera, taking photos of the stalls in the surrounding artists' market.
"Well," AJ allowed, "it is true that dragons are the most awesome things pretty much ever, I reckon. But if you're writing a dragon story because it's allegorical, it's not really a dragon story, right?"
Dash rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. "Okay, yeah, you got me. But stories don't always have to be direct metaphors about the people who write them, right? Can't you just enjoy them on their own merits?"
The blue pegasus and the orange pony gave a significant glance at the camera. The tourist wandered away. Applejack glanced out at the horizon and coughed.
"Don't know what came over me there," she mumbled.
"Oh, it's this place. It does that to you. You'll get used to it."
"I might, at that. There's something seductive about being here."
Dash smirked and gave her a hoofbump. "Welcome to the Horde."
wow just wow
2098489
It's art. It can be whatever you want it to be.
Fighting Is Magic, ladies and gentlemen.
Something nice to read in the aftermath of the dramacoaster that has rocked this community these past two weeks...
2098047 Oh, damn. I didn't even know. From mane6.com:
The dragon stirs.
Loved the story. It applies so well to any company-fanbase relationship, the DMCA, and more.
This is absolutely excellent!
This story is insane. And awesome. Inawesane-um. Such a bizarre premise, and done so well!
Very, very clever. I loved this.
2097706 My first instinct was still to hit you with a wet fish, but thinking on it I'm not sure if it's appropriate. Something about this story really bugs me, but I can't quite put it into words. It's not the insane part, I have tendency to call myself insane all the time. Well I liked it regardless. You can add my thumbs to the pile and what have you.
Serriously, what do you even do with a hoard of thumbs?
I generally consider myself too dull-witted to pick up on things like this. There was a brief moment, upon reaching the end, where I went "...Huh? Those crazy ponies didn't leave?" and then I saw it. Well-done. :P
I realized what this story was about when I was a third of the way through. When I did I went:
image.wtfux.org/0b969832/clap.gif
2099411
I am building a cool fort.
2100076
Certainly one that gets plenty of thumbs up.
2098140
Rarity. You see, the dragon didn't gather the hoard itself; it lacked the skills and imagination to do so. Instead, it enlisted Rarity to use her skills and magic to find the gemstones and shape them into a thing of beauty. When she was done, she left for fresh pastures to find more gemstones for other dragons. But she heard about the Hoardsmiths and occasionally returns to admire their work. The Hoardsmiths love her for it, but she is just as powerless as they before the dragon.
I was able to read it as a story before letting it's allegory come to the fore of my mind. The concept and name of Hoardsmiths is something I'm going to keep, I think. I hadn't heard about the mane6 thing until now (though the fear of it had been rising higher), and read the platinum model as the risk of larger swathes of the community's work disappearing rather than a single, grand project having actually gone. I'm not sure why, that's clearly the more correct interpretation.
Did not know about the fate of Fighting is Magic, so he applicability to the present situation didn't jump out at me. Nicely done.