- Location
- florida
If they are they are being quite subtle. Which is good.
Illuminating Invitation (MLP: FiM AU)
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Russia
Voice is "The Big Sister" here - always watching
Privacy is an illusion.
P.s. Voice is a projection of the Superpower of the good author - the ability to look into another world to get a good story
Saphire
Lurking dragon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Remember, they are an entity whose hobby is watching "corporeals". They are having fun, in their own sense of it, at interacting with them and having them interact back. At least that's my interpretation of them?
So they want more interactions to happen. Talking, listening, etc. And "just read their mind" is a very boring solution when you could be imitating all that lip flapping and air movement that those funny blobs of electricity, meat and thoughts (and magic) are using to communicate.
Edit: Not sure whether to classify them as a reader or an author. Somewhere in-between? They aren't making their own stories, but they are enjoying watching one happen, and maybe prod it to be more fun when possible because all that misery can cause things to end sooner than otherwise.
Nobody likes abandoned or suddenly dead stories, even if it can be pretty understandable how that happens.
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I disagree. If someone is shitty enough, I don't want to be riding in their head (A non-POV or non-core character gets more leeway there, because it's less miserable that way, but even there is a limit). Now, I'm not saying that Sunset has reached that point. But she's definitely closer than I prefer.
Also, even if someone isn't so bad that I just don't want to read anything related, being close to the edge has another downside: That it may take the story too long to get the character out of the off-outputtingly miserable range once things are moving upwards. I'd point at Jade in Ignition as a related example: She spends a looong time really mentally fucked up and miserable, and it's not nice to read. Like, I love that story/quest, but I consider everything before Agnestrya shows up the painful but necessary prologue.
And Sunset is worse, because she's both deeply unhappy, deeply fucked up, and a real asshole.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
This would be an understandable complaint if Cadance had been in the role for more than, like, a couple years.
(I do have the timescale correct here, right?)
- Location
- Finland
And just because people have a reason to hate you, does not mean that the reason is anything approaching reasonable, or sane.
Could easily have been a "how dare she be pretty and popular", i honestly would not have found it out of character for someone behaving like Sunset.
- Location
- Australia
I don't get what you mean by "that does not excuse being where she is". Simple punishment is not going to improve matters. Sunset needs treatment and proper socialization to unlearn her bad habits and twisted worldview.
Unicorn culture probably values spellcasting abilities and there are going to be high expectations on anyone that is Celestia's personal student. Twilight would have picked up some of the pressure even if people weren't quite so crass to her.
That sort of is the issue. Sunset envies Cadence because Cadence is getting everything Sunset dreamed of without working and suffering for it like Sunset did.
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- Location
- Finland
Unless someone has suggested she should be punished (beyond the facehoofing she will do herself when realization dawns on her), not sure how that is relevant.
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Yeah, she is merely polite and friendly, and for some weird reason everyone is, polite and friendly back.
So unfair.
I don't think it's even that long. I'd guess two years at most, probably less.
I'm sure she knows. That doesn't help tell what reason. Sunset is rather unwilling to communicate with her or anyone, sees any interaction in terms of masks and tests, and even if you drugged her to be perfectly calm, and enspelled her to only tell the full truth as she understands, probably couldn't articulate the reason because she isn't really aware of it herself. The reason is pretty simple: Sunsets absentee mom brought home a new daughter, and she's the new favorite child. But you can bet it'll take Sunset a whole heap of character development before she can formulate that.
And ultimately, there's nothing Cadence could do. She could be the greatest mage since Star Swirl, and Sunset would still hate her, though her justification would change. Maybe she'd hate Cadence a little less, or maybe more, or herself more, but that doesn't really matter. The point is that Cadence got what Sunset had been working so hard for. Notice that Sunset never even considers that maybe Cadence does deserve it, that she is better than Sunset, more deserving*. The closest Sunset gets to that is when on learning the conditions for ascension she grudgingly admits that Cadence must have done something impressive with her talent, but there's a pretty clear note that she was still just lucky and didn't really deserve it. There's really nothing Cadence could've done, because Sunset's issue wasn't truly with Cadence in the first place.
Like, say that the Crystal Empire was around, and Cadence got wisked off there, and Celestia only occasionally visits. You bet that Sunset would not hate her anywhere near as much. She'd probably not be nice (she's not really nice to anyone except Celestia sometimes, and there's still a personality cult), but she also wouldn't be the pony that stole her mother, and also demonstrated that Sunset's way of getting her mom to be her mom was not working.
*Of course, the notion of being better or more deserving of love is a whole nother can. Let's not open that here.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
...'a couple' means two.
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Sunset I love you, please change.
...What you thought I would say never change? Good god no.
...What you thought I would say never change? Good god no.
It can mean that, but in context you used it, means some undetermined number larger than 1, and typically larger than 2. When someone says "a couple of hours later" they don't mean two hours later. They mean something like 3-7, with a smaller chance of 2 or more than 7.
So you said at least 2, probably more, and I said at most 2, probably less. There's an overlap there, but it's not the same.
- Location
- Australia
You did when you suggested that her upbringing leading to the way she is doesn't excuse the way she is.
Sunset isn't envious because people are polite to Cadance. She is envious because Cadance got to be an Alicorn and get Celestia's attention.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
My parents are Canadian, so to me 'a couple' means 'probably two, almost certainly in the range from 1 to 3'.
SakSak
Unbound
- Location
- The Cold Wastes of the North
Sunset's issue isn't people being polite to Cadance.
It's Cadance being favoured (in her mind) by Celestia, and getting called a princess, and becoming an alicorn/goddess (as Sunset sees it), by what appears to be a fluke of luck instead of literally anything Cadance had to work for. These are things she were handed on a silver platter, and instead of doing her best to grow her skill and power to match her luck after the fact, she's running from lessons because people 'were mean to her'.
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- Location
- Finland
How does not excusing someone being petty asshole, at best, equal to "they must be punished"?
Honestly, that interaction with Cadence went surprisingly well.
Yes, still terribly, but Sunset finally explained to Cadence why she hates her, after she's been trying to learn for so long. The fact that the reason was actually pretty hurtful means that Cadence kinda agrees about the reasoning too, since otherwise it wouldn't affect her like that. I doubt either will realize it, but Cadence also got a huge hint as to the source of Sunset's trauma there between her abusive instructors and her placing Celestia's time as of crucial importance. If she's able to sit down and work it out this whole story would be over in a few more chapters.
So, y'know, that's not going to happen. Cadence is emotionally hurting and trying to process everything Sunset threw at her. I'm hoping she can at least remember to mention the bad instructors to Celestia, fixing the source of Sunset's constant need to prove herself would be a huge help for any future students of hers (even if it's far too late for Sunset there). Particularly one cute purple student who will undoubtedly be joining the cast at some point.
Sure, Operation "Teaching Cadence Without Insulting Her" is already mission failed before it even really started, but Cadence can actually start understanding Sunset now which is a good start to them actually becoming tolerant of each other, and then maybe even friends eventually.
Yes, still terribly, but Sunset finally explained to Cadence why she hates her, after she's been trying to learn for so long. The fact that the reason was actually pretty hurtful means that Cadence kinda agrees about the reasoning too, since otherwise it wouldn't affect her like that. I doubt either will realize it, but Cadence also got a huge hint as to the source of Sunset's trauma there between her abusive instructors and her placing Celestia's time as of crucial importance. If she's able to sit down and work it out this whole story would be over in a few more chapters.
So, y'know, that's not going to happen. Cadence is emotionally hurting and trying to process everything Sunset threw at her. I'm hoping she can at least remember to mention the bad instructors to Celestia, fixing the source of Sunset's constant need to prove herself would be a huge help for any future students of hers (even if it's far too late for Sunset there). Particularly one cute purple student who will undoubtedly be joining the cast at some point.
Sure, Operation "Teaching Cadence Without Insulting Her" is already mission failed before it even really started, but Cadence can actually start understanding Sunset now which is a good start to them actually becoming tolerant of each other, and then maybe even friends eventually.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Really enjoying this story. Find all the characters interesting and definitely rooting for Sunset Shimmer. Can't help but feel that way for such self destructive characters but most the ponies seem so young so in her case I read her as a precocious teen who happens to be extremely capable in specific situations but horrendously adjusted in others. Here's to hoping she and and Celestia work it out
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MaimakteriAnn
(Verified Sleepy)
- Location
- Enormous And Round Terran Homeworld
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Dr
... Sunset is an actual psychopath then?
Literally incapable of empathy until voice modified her?
Literally incapable of empathy until voice modified her?
Nah. She seems capable of empathy. More like she has some ridiculous biases and hangups both about trying to hide your emotions and underperforming. Which if you think about it could be tied together - Sunset hates when people try to be something else than what they are or capable of being. And considering that very few people are ready to invest so much effort it's not surprising that she has problems.
If we take her words literally than only people like professional athletes, scientists and so on, who always push themselves, are up to her standards.
Roadie
A plate full of blins and a cat nearby.
No, she's just a teenager who's been taught that the only way to get positive attention and approval is to be academically perfect at all times, and then a quasi-stepsister showed up who gets all the attention and approval she wants without having to work a tenth as hard.
Alivaril
On a magically-deficient journey of self-discovery
- Location
- A single human dimension
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No.
Also no to both. I'll add this to an author's note on Thursday's chapter, but the only thing vaguely resembling "mind control" that Voice has been doing is Her whole see-me-not hear-me-not think-me-not trick. With some niche exceptions, it's usually pretty boring to pursue a story about character growth and then rely on mind control to skip part of it, y'know?
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- Location
- Australia
Because what else is there to be excused?
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Yaaa I think that this actually went remarkably well in the sense that there is actually something Concrete for Cadance to work with and understand alongside shining a bit of light on part of why Sunset is the way she is even though this is probably more a matter of previous problems effectively coming up like an earthquake after pressure was building up Beforehand
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