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Moonbutt: better than Sun Chips since 10/10/10.

Also ponytails.

Meow

Here's the most recent chalking the CMUBronies me and a few other members of the club did as everyone else practiced slacking off. I guess they're just cowards not up to the challenge of drawing cheese legged bug horse queens.

The reason I'm so late with this posting is the drawing became sentient and took over the school shortly after we drew it, probably due to the local wizard club passing by and accidentally igniting her with the unholy fires of the old ones (we did use charcoal for her black parts, after all). She tried to drain the school of our love, but starved to death. Hopefully it will be nice enough tomorrow for another chalking!

Also, you never really realize how terrifyingly skinny she is until you spend a lot of time outlining her. She seriously needs to bulk up, she's sending bad body care messages to little girls who might want to become shapeshifter queens.

Fact

@Dark is not evil
I've always justifed it to myself as "Creatures of light = providing sight and guidance to others" while "Creatures of Darkness = hinderance on ability to see making others vulnerable." But in terms of storytelling, it all comes down to how and why it's being used. The main thing (to me) is that it needs a purpose. If the dark-but-not-evil thing is being used as a way to characterise someone, explain something or add to the story then that's fine, but if it's just used as a shortcut for making the character seem edgy or misunderstood :((((, that's where the problem lies. I feel the same way about evil light characters. If there's a reason that makes sense and adds something to the story (like they believe they're leading the way or because it's a personality quirk or something), then I'm fine with it.

Here's a few examples I came up with:

In Luna Eclipsed, everyone fears Luna, but it's not entirely based on her darkness, but rather because she has a bit of a… history.

The ponies feared Zecora for her dark mannerisms, but this made sense because they didn't know why she was doing them. It wasn't a fear of darkness, but rather a fear of the unknown.

I think this makes sense… I'm making sense, right guys?

@sstabeler

Not to mention, judging by the comics, Luna was possessed, and the Nightmare Forces were the ones who had the idea for the stuff that Nightmare Moon did wrong

Ecch, that's actually my biggest problem with that arc. I've been accepting the comics as canon because… well, they're awesome, but Luna being forced to be evil? That's just something I can't get behind. I mean, I couldn't help but feel they were trying to make a character who is already universally sympathized with even more sympathetic for no reason. I've said this before, but I like my characters nice and flawed, which is why I liked Luna. But by saying she was forced to be evil, you take away her biggest flaw, and she stops being a character who went mad with jelousy and just becomes a character who was slightly jelous for a justified reason, possesed by evil, banished for her evil, cured of her evil and then made to apologise and (according to the comic) live with the guilt that she did something that was completely out of her power to begin with. Plus that means her social awkwardness isn't her fault either. Seriously, there is such a thing as being too much of a woobie.
Then again, I might be alone on this seeing as it's been voted the best arc yet.

By the way, I should probably note that I still like Luna as a character, I just get a bit tired of people always justifying her actions (like in that "Children of the Night" animation which played her up as the good guy despite kidnapping several children.) She doesn't need to be perfect in order to be a good character, and being too perfect can often have the opposite effect.

In a similar vein, how do you guys describe "best pony?" Because I've seen images like these two which say best pony is determained by the one with the fewest flaws, and I disagree for reason I've already made clear. What do you guys think?

Guys- I can't help but up-vote posts with Luna in them. I don't even read the posts, do I have a problem?

Edit:

It turns out I don't have a problem.

Meanwhile, on KYM…

@Dark/Light stuff
I really don't see Luna as upholding or subverting the whole 'Dark is Evil' thing primarily because Luna's coloration always felt secondary to her character and her issues.
When you really think about it, the origin of the trope is pretty evolutionarily-based as most cultures view nighttime as dangerous and mysterious simply because human beings are ill-equipped to operate in darkness.
Our eyes aren't great and our other senses aren't strong enough to compensate.
It's only natural that people would begin giving negative connotations to 'dark' colors, which may be unfair in a general, modern sense, but would be perfectly reasonable then.
Thing is, Luna's character motivation springs from that original motivation (Ponies don't like the night) and her colors are more of a side-effect of making her connected to the night.

I mean, we can't really complain about the show upholding a tired stereotype like 'Dark is Evil' when the main character and frequent world-saving hero is a dark purple unicorn named Twilight.
She alone pretty much kills that idea, but it again doesn't feel like a 'subversion' as much as a complete sidestep.
Twilight's coloration has nothing to do with how she is presented as a character.

If you really want to talk about that trope in relation to MLP, why has no one else mentioned Sombra?
His design is pretty much the pinocle of 'dark evil dude' without it really relating to his specific characterization.

@Stunt
With you there on the Luna arc thing.
I liked that it was her fault.
It made her more interesting and, in a way, 'real.'
Luna was capable of feeling jealousy so strong that she basically went a bit nuts for a while there and had to be physically stopped.
That's a much more interesting character to see overcoming guilt and reintegrating into society than one who was essentially held prisoner against her will.
The latter removes pretty much all internal conflict because the character is freed from responsibility.

And to the general point, yes, flaws make the character because flaws give a character obstacles to fight (and occasionally fail) against.
The essence of drama is conflict and a flawless character has no conflict, no drama, and no interesting features.

The comics!
They are coming to life!

<div class=spoiler title="For those who may not remember…">

Crashgordon94 said:

First off, I’m a Christian and I’ll have you know it’s not all fundamentalism and awful crap like that.

>mfw I'm a Baptist

@Rest of the rant
Wut.

Crashgordon94 said (again):

…I hate Luna…

>2013
>hating Luna
Is it a shiggy, a diggy, or a doo? I can never tell.

…they just killed Nightmare Moon.

>implying NMM is a separate entity
>implying it's not just Luna on a power trip
>implying Luna Eclipsed didn't establish this ("took away our dark powers")

@Religious Light/Dark debate
Let's not forget that the Bible's Big Bad, and evil's main man, is called Lucifer (Latin for morning star). If we're comparing biblical Eldrich Abominations, God Himself has to take the cake. He did, after all, light a mountain on fire simply by being on it (Exodus 19:18). Then there's the whole "you die if see what He looks like." Which has to be a standard hallmark of Eldrichian creatures.

sstabeler said:

Not to mention, judging by the comics, Luna was possessed, and the Nightmare Forces were the ones who had the idea for the stuff that Nightmare Moon did wrong

Which is why I don't consider the Nightmarity arc canon, as it directly runs contrary to what Luna Eclipsed established, both about NMM and about Luna's personality.

I should mention that I subscribe to the view that the Nightmare Forces were simply why Luna refused to negotiate- that is, the Nightmare Forces were why Luna tried for Eternal Night, NOT the reason why she had a problem in the first place. I.E. the conflict WAS caused by Luna, but the reason it was irrational was the Nightmare Forces. Oh, and it DOESN'T remove Luna's guilt- I'm pretty sure Luna thinks NMM's actions were her fault.

In short, I'm pretty sure how it works is that it's similar to Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome- the Nightmare Forces twist the pony into being the worst they can be. IOW, NMM is Luna's dark side still, just induced by someone else.

@xTSGx:

>implying NMM is a separate entity
>implying it’s not just Luna on a power trip

>Implying it's not Luna on some other kind of trip

…Okay, I just want to clarify this, since this seems to be continuing into this page. I don't mean to stir up shit again but since this isn't stopping anyway I might as well explain this one point.

>implying NMM is a separate entity

@Jimmy: …Okay, that's a really fun mental image.

We luna now? Neat.

@stunt about describing best pony

To me, it's was just a matter of deciding who I liked best – who I enjoyed seeing in the show the most and thought was cutest; who I found myself wanting to talk about and post the most, ect. It's true there's a lot of great things about Applejack and I can even relate to her in a lot of those ways, but I don't enjoy her character or episodes a whole lot. So yeah, I don't think it should be based off of who has the most good qualities either. Bad qualities can be just as loveable.

Wendy Luna is best Luna

@Nightmare Moon: Huh, I always saw her as being Luna herself with another title/name not another entity manipulating her. She was really evil or corrupted at somepoint in the past, but never stoped being "Luna". I think on that like what happened to Darth Vader, Anakin became corrupted by the Dark Side, despised all his friends and followed his dark path until he confronted the "Good" again and redeemed himself.

Behold, ye faithful. One of my friends got some mystical photo app that now allows us to get perfect top down images of our chalkings. Here is today's chalking, enhanced with that very app:

In case you're curious, a few of our old chalkings were enhanced in the same way.

Today's chalking was a lot of fun, and we even had some passing family and their daughters join us to help (they let their kids draw Applejack, which is why she looks a little… different). I was in charge of the Rainbow Dash squadron, which consisted of myself and this one girl that wanted to help for a few minutes (not from the family mentioned earlier). Unfortunately, it rained a few hours after we finished and the chalking is completely gone now. Still, it was a good job.

SkymanKez said:

One of my friends got some mystical photo app that now allows us to get perfect top down images of our chalkings.

I am now imagining your friend duct taping his phone onto a stick.

I'm surprised that no one, not even Verbose or Random brought up the news about Calpain here earlier.
I am disappoint.

Anyways, like I promised, here's the new pony related pic I was talking about earlier. Yea, it's an OC, but she's more like the "villain" of the Arcane Set of pictures (if some of you still remember those), so I won't be using her anywhere else. It's quite obvious that I haven't been drawing in a while, since this obviously could've been better.

Or maybe the overall quality of the fanart has just gone up a notch. My last Arcane Set picture didn't even get to Ponies Plus of dA, and I doubt this one will get there either. Just need to do better I guess…

Completely unrelated, but I'm really loving the art of Life Loser (or LoserLife, whatever). Definitely my favourite pony artist right after Discommunicator.

@Iamslow: We've been Luna-ing for like, a page and a half by now, I think this the single longest theme-thread I've seen here… Between this and the massive reaction to me insulting her that started it, she must be this thread's favorite Pony.
But still I say, we're posting the wrong princess!

@Bruno: Gravity Falls?

Huh, must be her version of this:
!
See more on Know Your Meme!
(as a disclaimer, I haven't seen this show either.)

@Crash: You're posting the wrong princesses, motherfucker.

@Skyman: Why is your chalk so awesome? Why? Why can't any person with chalk be as awesome as you?

@Muumi

Nobody posting about Calpain?

Oh that's probably because we've gotten used to him appearing everywhere around the entire fandom, seeing his OC rendered in everyones artwork as if it were conceived by Faust herself and getting passed around every fansite like a cheap hooker

TOTALLY NOT BECAUSE WE ARE JEALOUS…TOTALLY NOT WISHING OUR OC'S GOT SO MUCH ATTENTION…TOTALLY NOT WISHING HE POSTED HERE OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT…NOPE, NO GREEN ENVY HERE AT ALL

[Sniff]

As for your latest artpiece. I can tell that you are looking for more critique on your work. You appear to insist that your skills are terrible despite overwhelming evidence on the contrary and I'm guessing thats because you want us to tell you it is. You want feedback that points out flaws and confirms mediocrity so that you have reassurance that you haven't hit the ceiling and there's still somewhere for you to go and more challenges ahead. Lately all you've been getting instead is "omg, so awesome" but that doesn't explain why you didn't hit Ponies Plus

So I'm going to go ahead and break from the traditional response to your art and point out several artistic errors and bad practices in your work which you must improve on…

….

….

…um….

….

…….

I'm sorry. I got nothing man.

But you are right. I think there are a lot more quality artists out there now and I think the standards are higher. Your skills are certainly on par, but perhaps you need to mix things up a little in order to grab the spotlight again? I.E: Different themes or styles?

I… I don't know where this thread is going anymore.

So… let me just… I'll just go now.

Muumi said:

It’s quite obvious that I haven’t been drawing in a while, since this obviously could’ve been better.

I would murder a puppy in front of the Superbowl to get the artistic skills you have.

@Caplain
He was just being silly. Thinking he could get off the ride. Who thinks that? It's just absurd.

>2013
>Not wanting to bend over for Rarity
Not noticing I'm not using the same exact color as 4chan

Do you even Pone?

>KYM
>screwing around with colours and bullshit when you could be writing what you want to say
&Why not just use ampersands instead?
#No that's stupid.

Hello, fellow KYM pony freaks!
I come to you all tonight with a special announcement!

Over the past few weeks, Fifths and I have been collaborating on a new long-term pony project together and we feel that now is the time to officially launch.
We bring you…

The tale of a couple normal Canterlot guard ponies just trying to make it through their shifts.

… hopefully without killing one another.

Check it out here: Guard Duty

This is where you guys come in!
Fifths and I are launching a new pony ask blog and we'd like your help.
This is our first foray into the world of Tumblr as well as our first attempt at anything of this scale so feedback, suggestions, comments, questions, and participation would all be greatly appreciated.
Feel free to spread that link around; the more the merrier.
We have a lot of cool things that we are hoping to do with it and this is your chance to get in on the ground floor.
Give us a follow and join in!

@DeadParrot
Oh, Sweet! Best of luck to you! I saw the little teaser on Fifth's Deviantart a while ago, so I was wondering when this would come out. Hmmm… how can I help…
…asks most basic possible question.
Haha! No need to thank me, being amazing is it's own reward.
By the way, as much as I would love to follow you, not even the plush master himself could convince me to get a tumblr account. Just know that I follow you in spirit… and also, y'know, in real life.

Man, all these creative users are making me want to contribute to the fandom more. In fact, yeah! I'm going to become the greatest content producer this fandom has ever seen!

…Aaaaaaany second now…

Aha, now so have you!

@Deadparrot: Ah great, all the best of luck to you! Can't look now but I think I will soon.

Deadparrot222 said:

This is our first foray into the world of Tumblr…

I pity you. You know not what transfatty, otherkin cis horrors lie beneath the surface.

inb4 #downwithguards becomes a thing

47 DAAAAAAAAAAYS!

*@Crash:

Aha, now so have you!

Wait… FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

@Guard Duty: Followed it. Best of luck to you guys!

@DeadParrot

I created a tumblr account just so I could follow you.

@Deadparrot. I want to follow you but I always swore never to make a Tumblr account. I'm conflicted man. Quick question though: Will there be scenes that'll make us want to Jackoff Non-Sexually? If yes then I'll start making the account now!

Guise guise, I have an idea for an episode of MLP.
Okay so, Applejack's cousin Rambo Apple (It's a type of Apple, look it up peasants!) returns from War to see his favorite cousin Applejack. After arriving in Ponyville the Town Sheriff and the Mayor don't like the fact that a drifter is going through the town and attempt to arrest him for Vagrancy. Doing this causes Rambo Apple to go crazy and start a One Pony war against the town's police force. The Episode ends with Applejack talking sense into Rambo Apple and convinces him to turn himself in Until the episode where Rambo Apple and Applejack get sent into Griffon Territory to rescue P.O.W.s, then there's a third episode where Rambo Apple goes into Changeling territory to save Applejack whose been captured and the moral of the story is that Veterans are just like anybody else and don't deserve such treatment.
There's also an alternate ending where Applejack unintentionally helps Rambo Apple commit suicide, but like I said that's just an alternate ending.

I think it would be a pretty swell episode.

Hey guys, recently found this video…

I.. Don't really know what to say, any of you got any comments?

Okay so, Applejack’s cousin Rambo Apple (It’s a type of Apple, look it up peasants!) returns from War to see his favorite cousin Applejack. After arriving in Ponyville the Town Sheriff and the Mayor don’t like the fact that a drifter is going through the town and attempt to arrest him for Vagrancy. Doing this causes Rambo Apple to go crazy and start a One Pony war against the town’s police force. The Episode ends with Applejack talking sense into Rambo Apple and convinces him to turn himself in Until the episode where Rambo Apple and Applejack get sent into Griffon Territory to rescue P.O.W.s, then there’s a third episode where Rambo Apple goes into Changeling territory to save Applejack whose been captured and the moral of the story is that Veterans are just like anybody else and don’t deserve such treatment.
There’s also an alternate ending where Applejack unintentionally helps Rambo Apple commit suicide, but like I said that’s just an alternate ending.

Kewl said:

Okay so, Applejack’s cousin Rambo Apple (It’s a type of Apple, look it up peasants!) returns from War to see his favorite cousin Applejack. After arriving in Ponyville the Town Sheriff and the Mayor don’t like the fact that a drifter is going through the town and attempt to arrest him for Vagrancy. Doing this causes Rambo Apple to go crazy and start a One Pony war against the town’s police force. The Episode ends with Applejack talking sense into Rambo Apple and convinces him to turn himself in Until the episode where Rambo Apple and Applejack get sent into Griffon Territory to rescue P.O.W.s, then there’s a third episode where Rambo Apple goes into Changeling territory to save Applejack whose been captured and the moral of the story is that Veterans are just like anybody else and don’t deserve such treatment.
There’s also an alternate ending where Applejack unintentionally helps Rambo Apple commit suicide, but like I said that’s just an alternate ending.

I think it would be a pretty swell episode.

And then Rambo became an alicorn princess.

There were no survivors.

@Guard Duty

Thanks for the support, guys!
Post #2 is up now and we should have a third up tomorrow to finish off our little 'prologue.'
After that we'll begin to answer actual questions.
Yay!
Stay tuned!

@Stunt
I know what you mean.
I was pretty reluctant to get a Tumblr at first, too, based mostly on its reputation.
But really, if you just go on there and only follow art and ask blogs from people you like, you can largely avoid the crap.
And if someone starts getting off-topic, unfollow and you'll never see them again.
It's pretty nice that way.
Lots of drama, but lots of ways to avoid it too.

@xTSGx
Eh, seen it all, don't really care.
I don't anticipate us stirring up much controversy and we certainly don't plan to go looking for any.

@Jimmy & Disturbed
Thanks, guys!
We'll try to make it worth your time!

@deadparrot

I can't wait to see how you guys answer questions.

Also speaking of content producers, I know we always mention the ones we like off hand here and there but can anyone here name one as their favorite?

I pretty much have to go with KP-ShadowSquirrel. The guy's work is top notch, adorable and there's quite a lot of it.

My favorite content producer? It sorta shuffles around now and then, but I'd probably say Schpog right now. Maybe because she's German?

But there are other… reasons.

Oh hey, I just noticed that this is page 108. I wonder if anything bad is going to happen.

If anything bad happens, I'm blaming you.

Seems legit.

That explains why this page is going by much slower than the last 10 pages, that has to be the bad thing…….Unless KYM decides to kill off one of the posters on this thread to up the drama like they do all the time on TV.

My Vote's on for Platus to get the death slip from KYM, no one would ever see Platus getting killed off on Pony General. Kinda like Dumbledore I mean…..spoilers. But then again who would tune into the next episode page of Pony General if they killed off a Main character like Platus? Eh I'm betting money on a supporting poster getting killed off.

Following comrade Iamslow's example, I'd say (currently) that Mr. Darkone10, has outstanding artwork.

Also, I can't believe this is my first time posting something here cuz most of the time I am 'round the image gallery.

Hey guys, I know there are a couple of Game of Thrones fans on here. Check out the ponified lyrics I came up with for "The Rains of Castamere." Also continuing on the Luna binge.

"And who are you" the dark queen said, "that I must share my hours?
Only a queen of a single star, bereft of real power

You spill your light unto their soil and thus are you adored
But when the moon is all they have my skies won't be ignored

And so she spoke, and so she spoke, that Princess of the Night
And now her skies shine darker still within muted moon light

Yes now her skies shine darker still inside her shadow's light.

What? Nobody is going to die! That sort of thing doesn't happen around here. I mean, what could possibly cause that? By the way, in completely unrelated news, I'm going to be temporarily retiring from posting here tomorrow. There are a few reasons, but the biggest one is that I need some time to think about some of the choices I've made in life. But don't worry, I promise I'll be back as soon as I sort this out. Anyway, I should go now. I need to grab that picture of my family and put on my new red shirt before I go deliver that vitally important message in that very well protected area, and I want to head off soon, because it looks like rain and I'm meeting up with a guy who says he's totally not a stalker… just like me!
Sincerely, the cheerful, somewhat frequent user who makes an effort not to reveal face or real name, Stunthead.

If anything, the fact that I posted a link to TvTropes should be enough to slow this thread down. That site is a black hole.

That's the first time in my life I've seen so many links in one single post.

Goddammit…….goddammit now I have to read all of that. Thanks Stunt for making me get stuck in TVTropes for the next 3 hours, and I have to work tomorrow! (I know I could probably find a TVTrope about that last comment somewhere on that website)

Three hours? Pfft! Lightweight!

Have a pony while I slip into day three:

@Fifths
Yes…
Yeeess…
Now…

Record it.

(But seriously, very cool lyrics for a very cool song. If you can manage that tone, it would be really cool to hear actually sung.)

(Cool)

@Stunt
Oh God…

TROPES DUMP!

In Season 4 news:
It starts off with stuff we've heard before, but quickly takes a leap into the new!
(Minor-est of spoilers ahead, I guess.)

<div class=spoiler title="So that means…">

Yep, just like when Mr. De Lancie mentioned doing a second episode long before season three aired, he has now revealed recording a total of '4 or 5' which implies 2 or 3 Discord episodes coming in Season 4!
And a freaking Discord song!
For those unfamiliar with what a 'patter' song is, it's essentially the exact type of talk-singing John did for the BronyDoc cartoon:

Oh, this is going to be fun!

Three days? I've had a tab open on my iPod for 3 years. Peasant.

Was it the pr0nz?