#they would take pony victims

[armandistrans]

adding onto the post i made this blog for:

armand and daniel with their little ponies.

[randomtheidiot]

You know, I’ve been mulling it over, and most “woke-ified” redesigns of popular characters could actually be good as an AU if you think about how X character would be affected by being in Y group, as well as the effects on the story they’re in. So long as you’re not claiming to “fix” the character, it’s harmless fun and it’s a neat thought experiment. People are just too easily offended these days.

[yeri-luvr]

BFF

pair: bestfriend!ningning x fem!reader

wc: 800+

includes: oral, strap use, ass slapping, top ningning

watching movies, gossiping, eating snacks, online shopping, and napping. that’s what your hangouts with your best friend, ningning, usually consisted of.

so it was a surprise when you found yourself getting your pussy ate by the same girl you used to watch my little pony with.

“fuck, just like that” you cry out, feeling the subtle sucking of nings tongue on your clit leaving you in a daze.

ningning could coo at the way you looked as you fell victim to the ministrations of her tongue, already grinding your heat against her face at a fervent pace.

you’re unsure of how you wound up in this position, but your best friend left you with nothing to complain about as she ate you out as if her life depended on it.

you scratch at her hair as she leaves open mouthed kisses on your hot cunt, so passionately that it made you believe you two were something else for a second. she stops her movements, drawing out a groan from your throat.

ning wastes no time shuffling through her closet, coming out wearing a strap that you had no clue of her owning.

you felt your slick growing as she repositioned you onto your fours, pressing against your back to get a better view of your messy pussy.

ningning feels herself getting wetter at the mere sight of you. she brings her fingers up to spread your lips apart, gaping at the the strings of slick between them.

“I could barely get my tongue inside you,” she circles the tip of her strap around your entrance, “I wonder how i’m gonna get my cock to fit.”

sliding the faux cock into your hole, your breath hitches as you began to feel the stretch that ningning provided. you were left with your jaw hanging, unnable to get a moan out. on the other hand, ning groaned unashamedly at the sight of you wrapped around her. once coming to a halt, she pulled back out with a little struggle because of your tightness.

the pace your best friend had set was moderate while you craved for more. desperate and needy, you rock back and forth hoping ningning would get the hint.

she was pleased at the sight of your hips bouncing back against her pelvis. you found yourself clawing at the sheets as she met your thrusts half way, one hand holding your hip while the other managed to slither around your waist towards your clit.

“tightest pussy ever.” she mumbled, gawking at how hard it is to pull out of you, “m’gonna fuck you all night.”

you shamelessly grind against ningning, mumbling incoherent curses against the bedsheets. she retracts her hand from your slit to hold onto your other hip, increasing the rapid, forceful friction.

the burn from the girthy cock left you wailing out in a mixture of pain and pleasure, allowing ningning to take control and do as she pleases.

missing the way ningning played with you, your finger circles your clit before you’re met with a spank that sends you flying forward. you squeal at the sting of nings slap on your ass.

“who told you to touch yourself?” she tends to your need herself, leaving you crying into the pillow under you.

“let me do the work. i’ll take care of you, princess.”

you find it impossible to mutter any words out, instead focusing on the feeling of ningning dicking you down.

you feel her makeshift your hair into a ponytail while rubbing your almost-spent cunt, picking up the pace and making your back arch.

the arch allowed her tip to kiss your cervix repeatedly, you cried out in pleasure while all ningning could think about was why you guys haven’t done this earlier.

you felt her hips stutter as she let out small whimpers, her pace faltering for just 5 seconds. At first you didn’t clock it but then you realized,

ningning came at the sight of you alone?

with the way she picked herself up fairly quickly, you wouldn’t have noticed it if you weren’t paying attention.

your grip on the bedsheets tightened as you got close to finishing, hearing ningning mutter something along the lines of, “been wanting this,” and “you’re so pretty like this”.

you were left breathless as you reached your high, ningning instinctively pulling you closer as she mumbled words of encouragement to you. all you focused on in that moment was the feeling of her dragged-out thrusts and the sound of your slick caused by your best friend.

the warmth of her lips pecking your back soothed you to a normal breath pace, fully coming down from the intensity of your climax. flipping your over and snuggling into your neck, ningning complained, “I can’t believe i finished before you did.”

you laugh at loud at this, already imagining all the teasing rights you’d have after this.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

In Defense of Marinette

I like Marinette. While there are many valid criticisms of her writing, the same can be said for literally every other character and she's actually doing pretty well given that she's the main character. After all, in a show where consistent characterization is an ongoing issue, the one with the most screen time will probably be the one who's the biggest victim of the issue.

This is heavily exacerbated by the rule that supposedly governs Miraculous. Namely that, in each story, Marinette must make a mistake. Or, at least, so says the head writer:

I really do not care what this guy says on Twitter or anywhere else. I only care about what's in the show because, if you have to go outside the text to understand the text, then you have no idea how to tell a good story.

However, unlike many of the tweets that I've seen, this one isn't some BS bit of lore. It's a writing rule and it has substantial backing in the text. It's extremely rare to have an episode where Marinette comes out smelling like roses and that's a problem because Miraculous has over 100 episodes. In other words, to follow this rule, the writers have to come up with over 100 ways for Marinette to be wrong so of course she's going to come across poorly. Why would you do this to your main character?

It's extremely common for kids shows to have a "lesson of the day" element to them. Someone always needs to learn something, but I've never seen a show misunderstand the assignment so badly. Learning a lesson is not the same as doing something wrong.

It's been a while since I watched the 2010 version of My Little Pony, but it really leaned into that whole "lesson of the day" thing and it actually knew what it was doing, so I'm going to talk about it briefly to discuss things that Miraculous should have done.

The first thing to note is that MLP had an unambiguous main character - Twilight Sparkle - but Twilight was not the one who learned all of the lessons. She had a pet dragon and a crew of five friends who would, occasionally, be the ones to learn the lesson because there were lots of lessons that simply didn't fit Twilight's character. Instead of warping Twilight to make the idea work (cough cough Ikari Gozen cough), the writers just let someone else have the spotlight for a bit.

This is an excellent way to build out your cast and Miraculous had plenty of opportunities to do it. For example, Lila should not have been Marinette's issue. The fact that Lila hates Marinette could have certainly stuck around, but the one who takes her down and learns to investigate her sources? That should have been Alya. A liar is the perfect enemy for an investigative journalist, but a poor enemy for someone who shines as a battlefield commander and overthinks when she's given too much time.

Another way that MLP would teach lessons was to have someone other than Twilight or the main crew cause the issue that they then had to deal with. This leads to one of the best moments in children's television:

And, frankly? Marinette deserves a moment like this. That poor girl has been through hell and is never allowed to make the right call when it really matters. The show will even completely rewrite its lore to make her fail (see: Strike Back). That is such an awful thing to do to your lead! Shows about female empowerment should include women feeling powerful and, no, Lila and Chloe don't count!

Also, the show is literally about Gabriel taking advantage of people who are upset. You don't need to have Marinette make a mistake to shoehorn in a life lesson. Akumas are life lesson fodder and season 1 actually seemed to get this. I'm not sure why they switched gears to "Marinette is the star and, therefore, must always be wrong."

The final way that MLP taught lessons was to have Twilight do something wrong because having your main character do something wrong is a totally valid way to teach lessons. It just shouldn't be your only way because you know who is always wrong in children's media?

Villains.

They wrote Marinette like a villain.

And a large part of the fandom hates her for it because of course they do.

You're not supposed to like villains.

[grlsinterrupted]

hi can you do dally with Curtis sister reader (in between soda and pony's age) and their relationship is a secret because her brothers would lose their minds but Dal only has good intentions and is completely enamored by her. He sneaks into her room at night and the next morning when Darry goes to wake her up he flips out seeing Dallas Winston in his baby sister's bed and that causes Soda and pony to come in and freak out too

i’ll keep you my dirty little secret ✮⋆˙

secret relationship with dally | dallas winston x curtis ! reader ˚ 𖦹⋆｡˚

-

dallas winston, a name notorious even within his own gang. though your brothers were close friends with him, they never failed to remind you to stay cautious around him— god knows what he’d do to a girl like you. dallas has always been dubbed ‘the mean one’, ‘the dangerous one’, ‘the one that had nothing ahead of him.’ in the words of your younger brother, pony, ‘he had been arrested, he got drunk, he rode in rodeos, lied, cheated, rolled drunks, jumped small kids— he did everything.’

despite the number of people that warned you about dallas, there was something so irresistible about him that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. his subtle, yet flirtatious comments, were enough to turn you into a tomato-red mess. over the course of a few months, the two of you gradually spent more and more time together. from late night drives around tulsa to watching the sunrise— you name it, you and dallas have done it. if there’s one thing you’ve learned about him during your secret little dates, it’s that things are not always as they seem. dally isn’t as ‘rough’ as you thought he was, and it would be a lot harder explaining your relationship to your brothers than you thought it’d be.

the clouds outside your window are enveloping the night sky, twinkling stars peeking through the moonlight. despite how loud soda’s snoring gets, you’ve learned to tune it out by distracting yourself with a book. your nose is stuffed into little women, the book that dally recommended to you a few nights prior (and admittedly cried to while reading; his tear stains have literally seeped into the pages.) just as you were beginning to fall asleep, the sound knocking on your window startled you into wakefulness. who could be outside at this hour?

you pull your blanket off, scurrying around the room for something you can use for defense. after all those horror movies you’ve watched where the killer breaks into the victim’s house, you’d think you had at least some sort of knife or a pair of scissors you could use to protect yourself. but for now, that can of hairspray on your vanity will have to do— maybe you could spray your killer’s eyes and blind him?

as you make your way towards the window, the hairspray can in your hand, a familiarly gruff voice begins to utter something. “open up, doll! you’ve got me all romeo and juliet-ing right now!”

you let out a sigh of relief, sliding open the window. thank god it was just dallas, but what was he doing at your window while everyone else is asleep?

“you scared me, you know? i could’ve-“ you look down at your can of hairspray, then set it onto your window sill. “i could’ve sprayed you with that, and then your face would be stuck forever!”

“what, you don’t like my handsome face?” he smirks. it’s that stupid, cocky smirk that he always does, and he looks damn handsome doing it.

you roll your eyes at his remark, sliding the window back down. “just get in bed, you must be cold from standing out there.”

dallas’ eyes dart around your room, taking a moment to observe all of his surroundings. compared to all of the feminine aspects in your room, he sticks out like a sore thumb, practically drowning in a pool of lace and pearls. he then takes a seat on the edge of your bed, rubbing his hand along your floral sheets as he picks out a teddy bear from your collection of stuffed animals lined up against your bed.

“what’s with all these, uh.. stuffed animals?” he holds up your favorite out all the stuffed animals, ruffling the top of its head.

you take the teddy bear, putting it back in its original position. “i guess i never really got rid of them,” you shrug. “we need to get some sleep.”

“we?” he raises a brow.

you slide into your bed, lifting up the blanket for him. “yes, we. aren’t you tired?”

“i guess.” dallas slips into bed beside you, wrapping his arms around you as he takes in your scent. though he’ll never admit it, he’s always loved the way you smelt like freshly baked cookies— it brings a soft of comfort to him that he never received. your scent reminds him of a warm bonfire, the sound of crackling overlapping with laughter. to him, you are the home he never had, the love he never knew existed in such a cold heart like his. you were his solace.

his hand moved up to your shoulder, gently running his fingers through your hair and twirling a strand. his touch was soothing against your skin, careful to not accidentally wake you. soon enough, both of you were asleep, safe and sound.

the next morning, you’re awoken by a loud, screeching noise, but much to your surprise, it isn’t your alarm. your eldest brother, darry, is furiously shaking you and dallas awake.

“Y/N, WHAT THE HELL IS DALLAS DOING IN YOUR BED?”

you groggily wipe your eyes, taking a glance at dally, then looking up at darry. “it’s 8 in the morning, and why do you care that he’s sleeping with me?!”

“i care because it’s dallas we’re talking about, god dammit! get him out of your bed!” darry flips over the blanket, shaking him awake.

the sound of darry’s yelling echoes throughout the house and eventually wakes up pony and soda. the two of them rush into your room, and as soon as they realize that dallas is beside you in your bed, their mouths are left agape.

“holy shit, y/n! you’ve been hanging around with dal this whole time?” soda huffs out a chuckle, too stunned to even be angry at you.

pony rubs his temples, shaking his head. “you guys are gross.”

dallas sits up, groaning and putting his hands up as if he’s surrendering. “okay, we were sleepin’ together, big deal!” he sighs. “just- look, darry, i ain’t mean to make you upset or whatever! ”

darry lets out a rough exhale, taking a step back from the two of you. he motions for pony and soda to leave with a death glare, then looks back at you as they’re making their way back to their room.

“you know what, i’m not dealing with this right now. we’ll sort everything out by the evening, got it?”

the two of you nod, exchanging satisfied grins. maybe by the evening, your brothers will come to their senses and realize that dallas isn’t really that ‘mean’ or ‘violent’ guy they perceive him to be, but someone with so much love in his heart that’s hidden underneath a façade.

’i’ll keep you my dirty little secret.. ’ .ᐟ ₊˚⊹♡

⊹ side note : i’m so sorry this took so long! it usually doesn’t take me more than a week to finish a fic, but i’ve had a lot to do and this fic is a bit lengthier than my others

-

[mostlysignssomeportents]

No, Uber's (still) not profitable

Going to Defcon this weekend? I'm giving a keynote, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse," on Saturday at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

Bezzle (n): 1. "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it" (JK Gabraith) 2. Uber.

Uber was, is, and always will be a bezzle. There are just intrinsic limitations to the profits available to operating a taxi fleet, even if you can misclassify your employees as contractors and steal their wages, even as you force them to bear the cost of buying and maintaining your taxis.

The magic of early Uber – when taxi rides were incredibly cheap, and there were always cars available, and drivers made generous livings behind the wheel – wasn't magic at all. It was just predatory pricing.

Uber lost $0.41 on every dollar they brought in, lighting $33b of its investors' cash on fire. Most of that money came from the Saudi royals, funneled through Softbank, who brought you such bezzles as WeWork – a boring real-estate company masquerading as a high-growth tech company, just as Uber was a boring taxi company masquerading as a tech company.

Predatory pricing used to be illegal, but Chicago School economists convinced judges to stop enforcing the law on the grounds that predatory pricing was impossible because no rational actor would choose to lose money. They (willfully) ignored the obvious possibility that a VC fund could invest in a money-losing business and use predatory pricing to convince retail investors that a pile of shit of sufficient size must have a pony under it somewhere.

This venture predation let investors – like Prince Bone Saw – cash out to suckers, leaving behind a money-losing business that had to invent ever-sweatier accounting tricks and implausible narratives to keep the suckers on the line while they blew town. A bezzle, in other words:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/19/fake-it-till-you-make-it/#millennial-lifestyle-subsidy

Uber is a true bezzle innovator, coming up with all kinds of fairy tales and sci-fi gimmicks to explain how they would convert their money-loser into a profitable business. They spent $2.5b on self-driving cars, producing a vehicle whose mean distance between fatal crashes was half a mile. Then they paid another company $400 million to take this self-licking ice-cream cone off their hands:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Amazingly, self-driving cars were among the more plausible of Uber's plans. They pissed away hundreds of millions on California's Proposition 22 to institutionalize worker misclassification, only to have the rule struck down because they couldn't be bothered to draft it properly. Then they did it again in Massachusetts:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/15/simple-as-abc/#a-big-ask

Remember when Uber was going to plug the holes in its balance sheet with flying cars? Flying cars! Maybe they were just trying to soften us up for their IPO, where they advised investors that the only way they'd ever be profitable is if they could replace every train, bus and tram ride in the world:

https://48hills.org/2019/05/ubers-plans-include-attacking-public-transit/

Honestly, the only way that seems remotely plausible is when it's put next to flying cars for comparison. I guess we can be grateful that they never promised us jetpacks, or, you know, teleportation. Just imagine the market opportunity they could have ascribed to astral projection!

Narrative capitalism has its limits. Once Uber went public, it had to produce financial disclosures that showed the line going up, lest the bezzle come to an end. These balance-sheet tricks were as varied as they were transparent, but the financial press kept falling for them, serving as dutiful stenographers for a string of triumphant press-releases announcing Uber's long-delayed entry into the league of companies that don't lose more money every single day.

One person Uber has never fooled is Hubert Horan, a transportation analyst with decades of experience who's had Uber's number since the very start, and who has done yeoman service puncturing every one of these financial "disclosures," methodically sifting through the pile of shit to prove that there is no pony hiding in it.

In 2021, Horan showed how Uber had burned through nearly all of its cash reserves, signaling an end to its subsidy for drivers and rides, which would also inevitably end the bezzle:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/10/unter/#bezzle-no-more

In mid, 2022, Horan showed how the "profit" Uber trumpeted came from selling off failed companies it had acquired to other dying rideshare companies, which paid in their own grossly inflated stock:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/05/a-lousy-taxi/#a-giant-asterisk

At the end of 2022, Horan showed how Uber invented a made-up, nonstandard metric, called "EBITDA profitability," which allowed them to lose billions and still declare themselves to be profitable, a lie that would have been obvious if they'd reported their earnings using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/11/bezzlers-gonna-bezzle/#gryft

Like clockwork, Uber has just announced – once again – that it is profitable, and once again, the press has credulously repeated the claim. So once again, Horan has published one of his magisterial debunkings on Naked Capitalism:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/08/hubert-horan-can-uber-ever-deliver-part-thirty-three-uber-isnt-really-profitable-yet-but-is-getting-closer-the-antitrust-case-against-uber.html

Uber's $394m gains this quarter come from paper gains to untradable shares in its loss-making rivals – Didi, Grab, Aurora – who swapped stock with Uber in exchange for Uber's own loss-making overseas divisions. Yes, it's that stupid: Uber holds shares in dying companies that no one wants to buy. It declared those shares to have gained value, and on that basis, reported a profit.

Truly, any big number multiplied by an imaginary number can be turned into an even bigger number.

Now, Uber also reported "margin improvements" – that is, it says that it loses less on every journey. But it didn't explain how it made those improvements. But we know how the company did it: they made rides more expensive and cut the pay to their drivers. A 2.9m ride in Manhattan is now $50 – if you get a bargain! The base price is more like $70:

https://www.wired.com/story/uber-ceo-will-always-say-his-company-sucks/

The number of Uber drivers on the road has a direct relationship to the pay Uber offers those drivers. But that pay has been steeply declining, and with it, the availability of Ubers. A couple weeks ago, I found myself at the Burbank train station unable to get an Uber at all, with the app timing out repeatedly and announcing "no drivers available."

Normally, you can get a yellow taxi at the station, but years of Uber's predatory pricing has caused a drawdown of the local taxi-fleet, so there were no taxis available at the cab-rank or by dispatch. It took me an hour to get a cab home. Uber's bezzle destroyed local taxis and local transit – and replaced them with worse taxis that cost more.

Uber won't say why its margins are improving, but it can't be coming from scale. Before the pandemic, Uber had far more rides, and worse margins. Uber has diseconomies of scale: when you lose money on every ride, adding more rides increases your losses, not your profits.

Meanwhile, Lyft – Uber's also-ran competitor – saw its margins worsen over the same period. Lyft has always been worse at lying about it finances than Uber, but it is in essentially the exact same business (right down to the drivers and cars – many drivers have both apps on their phones). So Lyft's financials offer a good peek at Uber's true earnings picture.

Lyft is actually slightly better off than Uber overall. It spent less money on expensive props for its long con – flying cars, robotaxis, scooters, overseas clones – and abandoned them before Uber did. Lyft also fired 24% of its staff at the end of 2022, which should have improved its margins by cutting its costs.

Uber pays its drivers less. Like Lyft, Uber practices algorithmic wage discrimination, Veena Dubal's term describing the illegal practice of offering workers different payouts for the same work. Uber's algorithm seeks out "pickers" who are choosy about which rides they take, and converts them to "ants" (who take every ride offered) by paying them more for the same job, until they drop all their other gigs, whereupon the algorithm cuts their pay back to the rates paid to ants:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

All told, wage theft and wage cuts by Uber transferred $1b/quarter from labor to Uber's shareholders. Historically, Uber linked fares to driver pay – think of surge pricing, where Uber charged riders more for peak times and passed some of that premium onto drivers. But now Uber trumpets a custom pricing algorithm that is the inverse of its driver payment system, calculating riders' willingness to pay and repricing every ride based on how desperate they think you are.

This pricing is a per se antitrust violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act, America's original antitrust law. That's important because Sherman 2 is one of the few antitrust laws that we never stopped enforcing, unlike the laws banning predator pricing:

https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/sites/ilr.law.uiowa.edu/files/2023-02/Woodcock.pdf

Uber claims an 11% margin improvement. 6-7% of that comes from algorithmic price discrimination and service cutbacks, letting it take 29% of every dollar the driver earns (up from 22%). Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi himself says that this is as high as the take can get – over 30%, and drivers will delete the app.

Uber's food delivery service – a baling wire-and-spit Frankenstein's monster of several food apps it bought and glued together – is a loser even by the standards of the sector, which is unprofitable as a whole and experiencing an unbroken slide of declining demand.

Put it all together and you get a picture of the kind of taxi company Uber really is: one that charges more than traditional cabs, pays drivers less, and has fewer cars on the road at times of peak demand, especially in the neighborhoods that traditional taxis had always underserved. In other words, Uber has broken every one of its promises.

We replaced the "evil taxi cartel" with an "evil taxi monopolist." And it's still losing money.

Even if Lyft goes under – as seems inevitable – Uber can't attain real profitability by scooping up its passengers and drivers. When you're losing money on every ride, you just can't make it up in volume.

Image: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA_BREA_TAR_PITS,_LOS_ANGELES.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/09/accounting-gimmicks/#unter

Image: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LA_BREA_TAR_PITS,_LOS_ANGELES.jpg

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[listofwhyyouloveher]

This is kind of silly but can I request headcanons for the gang getting their ass smacked by their friend or soon to be s/o please 😋 like let’s say their walking and reader is just staring and then is like ‘yolo’ and just smacks it

Summary: (PLATONICLY) smacking the gang's ass.

Warnings: none (i think?)

Author's Note: this is so very me with my friends

PONYBOY CURTIS

Pony is such a little baby about getting teased by his friends. He's whining "stooopp, stoppp" with the biggest pout, the gang makes fun of him soooo hard for this.

I don't see it happening unless you're soo drunk that consequences don't matter to you anymore so you just walk by him and smack his ass SO HARD that he screams.

He gets so shocked, asking if anyone saw that, if anyone would back him up on that but all the gang does is tease him saying like "saw you what? scream like a girl?"

This for sure starts a war, whenever you're at the Curtis's house just doing whatever Pony will try to smack your ass and you literally have to block yourself from him.

The gang is so tired of you acting like little kids but they laugh whenever you get Pony because he's such a sore loser about it.

JOHNNY CADE

Honestly, don't see anyone teasing him a lot. They probably think he's a little sensitive about it and forget that he's a greaser too. He likes you because you're not walking on eggshells around him.

Like Pony though, he SCREAMS when you slap his ass. No one's ever done that to him before and he's jaw dropped. He literally runs circles around Darry trying to chase you.

He will literally never forget and always turn to face you whenever you're around him. It's started a friendly rivalry like Pony but Johnny is significantly better.

He often sneaks up on you and catches you off guard but you return it by sneaking up on him. The gang has bets on who's gonna win once you guys get tired of your game.

SODAPOP CURTIS

Sodapop and Steve are literally sooo zesty with eachother. It's just their friendship and stuff but smacking ass is not new to them. Soda just doesn't expect it to be from you.

He turns around jaw dropped like you just stole his lunch money. Dramatically scoffs and just stares at you. When you turn to walk away he's for sure trying to get you back.

He doesn't expect you to be on guard though so he almost trips when you run away before he could get you. He's such a sore loser like his brother so he's always trying to one up you.

While Soda has the strength, you have the agility so it's literally such an entertaining battle to watch. Two Bit laughs at you two sooo hard he thinks its so funny.

STEVE RANDLE

Steve is actually a menace to society. He literally attacks Sodapop and Two-Bit, sometimes even Darry and Dallas. He'll run by and smack Soda's ass soo hard and runs so fast no one can catch him.

Until you did by catching him off-guard. He does the slow turn with his mouth open to dramatically signify his shock. He stares at you for a few seconds to try and catch you off guard and get you back.

He's a force to be reckoned with because he gets you back every single time. You're both crying-laughing by the time your worn out, lying on the couch trying to catch your breath because you'd been running around the house with Steve.

He's a formidable opponent but his weakness is that he forgets that you can and will smack his ass so he'll just be walking around and you'll slap him and lock yourself in a room.

TWO BIT MATHEWS

As much as he hates to admit it, Two-Bit sucks at hand-eye coordination. So he's not very good at the little game Soda and Steve started where they'll just come by, smack his ass and run so he can't catch them.

Of course he has his fair share of wins but he's more of a victim, but he takes it lightly because it's funny to him. He's soo shocked that you got involved though.

He was leaning over the kitchen counter talking to Soda when you walked by, turned to Soda and put a finger to your lips to let him know to not say anything.

You literally comically winded up and smacked his ass so hard Two Bit nearly screamed cause he was so scared. You were holding in your laugh and just ran to the other side of the counter for help from Sodapop.

DARRY CURTIS

Darry is such a sweetheart bro, he's literally such a cutie and he gets bullied for it. Soda and Steve literally violently attack him by smacking his ass and running (they call it drive bys).

He doesn't do much but yell at them, telling them that they better wish that he didn't hit them back. Of course when you do it, its different.

For instance you don't hit as hard and you did it so politely too that Two Bit was on the ground laughing. Darry just kind of stood there, an eyebrow raised.

He gave you a light noogie before sending you on your way only for it to happen AGAIN and he just turns around and crosses his arms and tells you that he won't ever trust you again.

DALLAS WINSTON

Dallas is a VICTIM of Soda, Steve and Two. That's the only thing he's unhappy to admit. He's not thinking about how to get them back, he's thinking about girls and parties and all of a sudden HE'S GETTING ATTACKED!!!

He's never going to take it lightly, always smacking them over the head for it. One day he just finished chewing out Steve for doing it when he gets hit AGAIN and its YOU.

He's all like, "c'mon, man, another one?" and his new york accent is soo heavy because he's getting frustrated that hes losing. He tells you that if you do that to him he's gonna do that to you.

Now, if you're ever in the street and Dallas comes up behind you he'll smack your ass and you'll smack his as he walks by. This rivalry is much darker than with Pony or Johnny, Dally is always on guard now and so are you. Two jokes that they should put you two in a ring.

[dallasgallant]

Halloween headcanons

Talked about 1960s Halloween [Here] and think I may do it for future holidays as they pop up! But I also thought I’d do some actual headcanons, maybe drawings if I think of some later on

Dallas, Two-bit, Steve and Soda all really like the ‘trick’ part of the night, sometimes they can rope Johnny or the others into it. Pony’s got a weak throwing arm though… (egging, toilet paper, the works.)

For when they trick or treated going over to the west/south side of town would be the equivalent of a “King sized” neighborhood (this was before there were too many mini bars of candy, it was practically all full size and homemade treats)

Johnny loves popcorn balls the best. You hear a sickening crunch… it’s not a spooky sounds record it’s him.

Mrs. Curtis would always have them take costume lineup photos as kids at least once. Dally has always been a victim of Red eye photos (except for the few years he was gone to New York) as they got older it turned into more candid photos of the boys sprawled across the living room or porch.

As he’s gotten older Pony stays back to hand out stuff rather than collect it on his own, thinking he’s too tuff™️ — he is however working on his Halloween gore makeup. Goal is to scare children.

Their dad was the type to sit in a lawn chair at the end of the drive (in this case on the sidewalk) with a few buddy’s and tell stories and pass out candy. -> Darry now does this tradition if he doesn’t have a friend call him up to go out.

Soda likes candy corn. Like really likes it- all of the brothers do and it baffles the rest of the gang. However, Steve likes wax candy so he can’t talk.

Pumpkin carving always ends up in flinging the guts everywhere and a chorus of ‘aw my hair!’ You’d think they’d learn by now. They don’t.

Pony and Steve get particularly fussy about their hair but then you also get pumpkin seeds and decorations out of it so maybe it’s ok.

Dally can carve the best jack o’ lantern though.

Two-bit crashed a soc costume party once for three hours without getting noticed.

By the end of the night the rest of the gang will show up at the Curtis door (usually blitzed) and they all swap treats… that they got through reputable means… and watch whatever horror marathon is on before the tv ends for the night (24 hour tv is very very new)

Pony has a love hate relationship with Horror movies

Johnny however is utterly fine with gore and does better than Pony, who will sometimes gag at his own makeup. He’s very “Aw that’s gross… cool.”

Soda and Steve also go to parties a lot, sometimes the others will join them other times they’re too busy causing chaos.

Cherry, Bob, Marcia and Randy always do coordinated and planned group costumes that usually win then attention or a contest or two. They go to the more traditional teen Halloween parties

[thatonefandomweirdo]

Pony Express and the nightmares of capitalism in Mouthwashing

To start of, let's talk about Anya.

Anya is raped in the middle of space. She cannot go anywhere to abort safely, and Pony Express has no medication for anything life-threatening. So unless she wants to risk her own health to get rid of the baby, she will be eight months pregnant by the time they land. They will not let her abort the baby at this point. She will be forced to birth the baby, whether she wants to or not

And Pony Express will not care under which circumstances that happened. They most likely have a rule against employee relations and will treat Anya like she was just as "guilty" as Jimmy. And it's not like there is any evidence.

Pony Express will want to avoid any bad press it might get. They will not let Anya be a victim of Jimmy because it would hurt their brand. They will try to spin the story of a woman trying to get money from them to "cover for her own mistake of unsafe sex in space" and due to her being laid off.

Now, even in a universe where Jimmy died right after the crash. Nobody would come find them.

1) Every other company besides Pony Express is no longer manned by humans, but robots. So any other ship that does not belong to Pony Express will not react to coming across the Tulpar. Their primary objective is bringing stuff from point A to point B..

2) Another Pony Express ship, on the other hand, has a chance of finding them around that time. But the crew would get its pay docked for just slightly diverting its course to check on them. Pony Express has not created an environment where heroism is encouraged. It has safety measures in place so it can say it has them. But once they are used, it will be docked from the crew's pay. And Pony Express is not a high paying job at all.

3) It would take ages for a rescue team to arrive. Not only that, but how would anyone find out about the crashed ship until it's too late? The only one who might be aware are Pony Express. And they would probably rather wait it out than have to deal with the repercussions of what might have lead to the crash. It would be easier to just blame it on the crew. A human error. Because letting an unsafe individual who crashed the ship on purpose onto the ship would also make them look bad.

And big companies care about image. Not individuals

[jams-sims]

Its in the middle of the night, and I just realized the cycle nature of Anya assulate and Curlys assulate at the hands of Jimmy.

I will always stand by the fact, whether Curly fully knew what Jimmy did or not. Curly inactions while offensive on the outside, what the hell was he going to do? I'm realizing now, how REALLY short the time frame is to when shit goes down. Its a 8 month voyage the crash takes 4 months. They must have been on the ship for a month MAYBE before Jimmy pulled some fucked shit. (Hell it would be even more ironic if it turned out they were only 1 month anyway from earth.)

But there are no Coms that Curly can call. The company has a robot that can send messages. But can't receive them back and if they did I bet you would cost money for them to be able to call. Theres no call this number, in case of emergencies. Nothing. They sit in a box until they land. There's not even like a jail cell, that you could use to isolate someone. (Also I dont know where the Pony Express is going out of bussiness narrative came from. They were all fired because Pony express was the last man shipping crew, its all robots now. Pony express is the shitty corpo that just laid off their crew for Robots. Its implied by Sawnsea who mentions the state of what companys like the one they are working for are actually like.)

So Curly trying to keep the peace, trying to see both sides, not understanding, not processing it all. Makes sense. How he kneels down beside Anya and tries to tell her, he'd do anything for when the reailty of it is, he can't really do shit.

Then we flip it, Curly is bed ridden, Curly needs helps. Anya can't bare to give him medication. Jimmy does it, each time is more violent then the next. Their nothing Anya can really do, she can't call Jimmy out. She stuck just like how Curly was when all this shit happened. Curly is Jimmy prefect victim, Curly can't talk, can't move, all he can do is breath and watch.

They simultaneously both get insight on what the other had to deal with. Could you read Anya leaving Jimmy to take care of Curly as Anya getting some type of Revenge or its coated in Resentment. Yes. But you could also read it like-

"Jimmy is Curlys best friend, he would never do anything to hurt him. " I can see this being Anya thought process. An her clining to it as let Jimmy take care of Curly. Just like how Curly mind probably went, "I've know Jimmy for years he wouldn't do that..." when dealing with Anya.

Its a cycle baby! Also me putting Anya and Curly behind me. We are not gonna say either one is bad or whos REALLY at fault. the man AT FAULT is Jimmy. Jimmy for betraying a long time friendship by sexual assaulting a mutual colleague and friend. Jimmy who crashes the fucking ship. Jimmy. Its Jimmy fault and all we ever see is the reactions to Jimmys actions.

[ilreleonewikiart]

TDIOBCB challenge - day 23:  pregnancy

Pregnant Rhaena, Daeron and their children, Nyra and Vivi

"This is probably one of the family dynamics I love the most that I’ve created.  I briefly mentioned that in this fic Rhaena and Daeron would get married and have children, but I never focused on them.  However, out of all the children that will appear, they are the most important and the ones who will return most often, as they will be born almost at the beginning of the story and grow over time, especially the first two, though Rhaegal, who will be born only at the end of the fic, also has an interesting conception. The first two are twins and are named Rhaenyra and Viserys.  For simplicity, they are called Nyra and Vivi by the family, and they are the very first grandchildren of Rhaenyra and Daemon.  Nyra is practically a miniature version of her aunt Baela, with a light touch of her grandmother, from whom she takes her name.  Being born a few seconds before Vivi, she is considered the older one and, for a few years, was seen as the most likely heir after Aegon III.  She is her father's favorite, who adores her and can never say no to her. Sometimes the two even dress alike. Vivi, on the other hand, is his mother's little angel, whom she adores.  Like the grandfather he’s named after, he loves sweets.  His sensitive soul makes him fall under the strong-willed nature of his sister, whom he follows in everything and is often the victim of her pranks.  Both love dogs and ponies. Rhaengal, the youngest, isn't born yet during the fic, but his presence is felt even while he's still in the womb.  In fact, unlike his siblings, he is not Daeron's son, but Addam's, though they will do everything possible to pass him off as a legitimate child.  In any case, he is deeply loved by both parents, and his two siblings adore him."

(warning: these illustrations are inspired by an AU Divergence and have nothing to do with canon (book or tv show) events and are not meant to be reposted outside of their contest)

[imagines--galore]

||Light 'em Up|| Prologue

Summary: She saved Hiro from bullies and then punched Tadashi when she thought he was one too. She calls herself Hiro's caretaker, and became Tadashi's best friend. Now she attends the same Institute as Tadashi as a robotics student. She's Sakura dubbed Cherry Blossom by Fred. She's Hiro's partner in crime, when it comes to annoying his brother and Tadashi's best friend. Pairing: Tadashi Hamada x Sakura Kamiya(OC) Rating || Genres || Warnings: T. Romance. Angst. Hurt/Comfort. Adventure A/N: I've written this for the longest time and figured it was time to start uploading this here! So enjoy!

"So was that everyone on your little Nerd Team?"

Hiro asked cheekily as he stood beside his brother, helmet in hand. They had just stepped out of the Institute, after meeting everyone, and were about to head home. His older brother grinned and nodded, putting his own helmet on.

"Yup!" He started the Moped as he counted his friends on his fingers one by one.

"Gogo. Fred. Honey. Wasabi. And..." His eyes widened with disbelief with a hint of fear, as he paled and breathed out.

"Oh crap!"

Hiro's smile widened all the more when his brother was almost immediately cut off by a loud shout from the top of the stairs.

"Tadashi Hamada!"

Both brothers turned to look at the stairs where a figure was walking towards them, their steps quick and determined. Tadashi seemed to shrink where he sat on his mopped, while his younger brother, with his helmet still on, waved excitedly.

"Hiya Sakura!"

Immediately a bright smile was directed towards him.

"Hello Hiro!"

The younger boy was then swept into a giant bear hug by the girl. She lifted him off his feet, the both of them laughing before she deposited him back on the ground looking at him, her eyes shining.

"Oh its so good to see you! Its been almost three days since I last saw you. I was worried when I got Tadashi's text about the Bot Fight. Why did you even go there anyway? No wait! What were you thinking?! For being a smart kid that was pretty dangerous and stupid Hiro."

As she spoke she started to turn his head around, eyeing him from head to toe.

"You're not hurt are you? If it were up to me I would glue that helmet to your head."

She laughed rapping her knuckles smartly against the object. Worry and concern was written all over the older girl's face as she inspected him for any kind of bruises or even a scratch.

"Seriously are you okay though?"

Her voice was soft, violet eyes laced with concern as she looked at Hiro in the eye.

"I'm okay, Sakura!"

Hiro said pushing her hands away gently, with a grin. He knew how the older girl could get with him. She was always checking up on him and making sure he was eating properly and sleeping well. Whenever he was about to try out one of his new inventions she would make sure to be just around the table, that was put up to protect them if need be, with a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. He didn't mind though. He loved the attention and Sakura loved to take care of him. Smiling lightly Sakura stood up straight, ruffling his hair, making it messier than ever.

"I know you're okay, Squirt!"

Hiro protested laughingly batting away her hands.

"H-hey Sa-kura."

A small voice called out. The girl turned, her long pony tail swishing around her head with the movement, to look at the older Hamada brother, her face completely devoid of any emotion. Beside her the younger Hamada brother grinned slyly as he stood behind the black haired girl, partly hidden. His eyes relayed a single message to the victim.

"You are so dead, bro!"

[acdxzhh]

Ponyboy and “Staying Gold.”

Johnny’s last words to Ponyboy are interesting, especially considering everything the audience has learned so far about said words: “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…”

Why does he say that when the only time Pony told him about the poem it was about how that’s not possible? “Nothing gold can stay.” He takes the poem and goes against it.

Furthermore, every other “gold” thing has fallen victim to this rule:

- The sunset the two of them had watched ended, as well as the fact that it was the last one that Johnny ever got to see and enjoy.

- Pony’s mother was golden and then both her and his father passed.

- Mickey Mouse (Sodapop’s horse) was a dark gold and then he was sold and taken from Soda.

- Soda’s eyes were described as gold, and one could say that his breakdown at the end of the book was an ending, but that could be stretch. Another thing is that S. E. Hinton herself said that for Soda’s future, she envisioned him getting drafted in the Vietnam war and dying there, which could also symbolize it.

But Ponyboy stays gold.

Even though he’s noticeably tougher and more rough than before, he hasn’t completely hardened himself the way that Dally had. Even though the Ponyboy at the end of the book would threaten some Socs with a broken glass bottle and make good on it if they didn’t run, he still takes the time to pick up the broken glass off the street so that people don’t get flat tires.

That scene is so important to his character because it shows that despite all of the confusion, the stress, and the mental, physical, and emotional toll, on top of the death of not one but TWO of his closest friends, he still isn’t a bad person.

What separates him from Johnny is that he had people there for him in his time of need. Every Single Time. He had a loving home life with his parents and brothers, and even when his parents were gone, he was still close with his brothers and could rely on them. When he got jumped at the beginning of the book he had the gang —especially Darry and Soda— to save him. He had Johnny when Bob and Randy were trying to kill them. He had Dally to go to when they were trying to run away, as well as to protect him during the church fire, both literally and metaphorically. It was Dally’s hand that physically slapped him to get the smoke out of his lungs and it was Dally’s jacket that prevented him from getting the worst of the flames.

There’s also a fundamental difference between him and the other greasers. One that makes him see the beauty in sunsets —something that not even Johnny cared for until Pony pointed them out to him— and prevented him from using a busted up bottle to fight off the Socs at the beginning of the book. His aversion to fighting and his ability to sympathize with the Socs, even the ones who played a huge hand in this entire mess (Randy).

He’s smart as well, which is another thing. Both Pony and Darry are intelligent and athletic, and had a promising future after school. There are many similarities and parallels between the two, but the reason why even if they had gotten the same exact upbringing they wouldn’t be the same is stated right at the beginning of the book in chapter one. “He doesn’t understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But he uses his head.”

When Two-Bit comments on how Darry would be a Soc if it wasn’t for them, he meant it. What separates Darry and Pony —even though they are already different from your average greaser— is that Darry is a greaser only in name and status. Ponyboy has heart— something that is scorned by Darry, at least at the beginning.

Ponyboy has qualities that make him unique from both Greasers and Socs, and even though he’s young and his perception of things is definitely not completely reliable or accurate, he’s still managed to separate himself from everyone else.

Ponyboy is different, but time and time again he is protected and cared for and loved, and that is what I believe separates him from others and allows him to truly “Stay Gold.”

[cheemscakecat]

MLP Redesigns/Rewrite Pt 1: Twilight Sparkle [And a Starlight Glimmer Rant]

When Celestia made Twilight an Alicorn, it didn’t make her immortal or taller. Other than a small magic boost and a pair of regular Pegasus wings to get used to, Twilight stayed the same.

That was until she and her friends answered the call to investigate Starlight Glimmer’s cult. Instead of having an ugly magic table map to tell them where to go, the elements themselves created a star that led the group to the secluded wasteland cult.

Twilight had always been very studious, even to the point of self isolating from classmates. After all, she had Spike, and could write to her brother, her old babysitter Cadance, her parents, and her mentor the Princess. Why did she need more friends? Even someone semi-likeminded and ambiverted like Moondancer was not given the time of day.

When Twilight got her Alicorn wings, it took her a very long time to learn to use them. Physical activity was never her strongest subject in school, she only took the class because it was required. However, she now had help from Rainbow Dash and the whole Apple family in training up her new wings. The Apples helped her increase her physical endurance, she learned to run farther and kick harder.

At the same time, Rainbow dash and her Wondercolt teammates taught Twilight how to exercise her new wings. It was very important for her to build their strength before even trying to hover: untested wings could not carry the weight of a Pegasus foal, much less a grown adult who was not born with wings.

Twilight began to travel back to Canterlot more often, both to study and to reconcile with old classmates. After she earned Moondancer’s forgiveness, she set her sights on Princess training. This time of course, without neglecting friends. Twilight realized that Luna and Celestia were not being honest with each other about their true feelings, and she and a visiting Fluttershy managed to get them to open up.

Discord warned Twilight that if she ever obtained immortality, she’d better pray for the mercy of having at least one immortal friend out of her main group. Twilight however, managed to come to terms with it after realizing her friends would not become immortal unless blessed with Alicorn status while wielding the elements. Even if the rest of her friends didn’t live forever, she’d still have Celestia, Luna, and him for company. And hopefully she’d be on good terms with future immortals who wielded the elements after her friends passed.

Twilight’s future job would be to teach morality, friendship, and respectfulness to pony kind, and to protect against invading kingdoms that may take advantage of a pure-hearted Equestria. If she didn’t obtain immortality, her writings would still be preserved and her ordinances and laws kept in effect unless something warranted an edit.

But referring back to the cult incident:

Starlight had been keeping tabs on the new developments in the world, without her cult victims knowledge. After all; she would have to make sure nobody could foil her plans for taking over Equestria and reshaping it to match her vision. Unlike the canon show, Starlight was not overpowered enough to steal the princesses cutie marks. [Seriously, why was she able to do that, and why was she able to get off Scott free?]

Anyways, Starlight had studied the history of the Elements of Harmony, and realized that they were capable of bestowing new powers and altering a user’s appearance. When powered up through frequent use, the elements would eventually gift their users a very valuable power up.

Discord wielded the Elements in the age of Draqonequus, and they both made him immortal and warped his appearance. His being able to keep his powers despite turning against the will of the Elements proved that they were unable to take back power once given out.

Princess Celestia and Luna were granted Alicorn status by Starswirl the bearded, but were at the power level of Twilight or Cadance until the Elements of Harmony gave them the trademark power boost. It turned their hair into some strange, ever-moving substance, gave them power to assist the movements of the sun and moon, and granted them immortality.

The problem was that the elements would not work for just anypony; Cadance had been expected to be the next user, but the gems did not respond to her attempts to recover them. Starlight couldn’t just summon them or steal them to obtain their power.

But if the Mane 6 were allowed to get their supercharged magic and new forms, she’d miss her chance. She wanted all 6 power boosts to overpower the two ascended princesses and take the kingdom for herself. So she came up with a very devious idea.

If she stole their cutie marks and managed to put them on herself all at once, she would theoretically be able to dupe the Elements into thinking she was their chosen users, and steal all that magic for herself. She just needed to lure the Mane 6 in and take the marks before they tried to fight her.

Starlight Glimmer began abusing her cult followers more and more, knowing that enough injustice would draw the Mane 6 to her hellhole “village” to fix whatever was going on. And at first it seemed to work.

Fluttershy became very ill, but that wasn’t such a big deal in Starlight’s mind. It was a good bargaining chip for getting the Mane 6 to grovel for help, and she could always just keep them locked in the solitary confinement bunker until the illness passed.

But then Fluttershy’s symptoms became more concerning, and word of it spread to the streets of the cult. She was suffering random and violent mood swings that led to her snarling, lashing out at the others, endless pacing, and charging into walls and random objects. The other Mane 6 members began to get early symptoms too, leading to fears that the village would be overtaken by this disease.

Starlight saw this as a wonderful opportunity! She could use it to gaslight her followers into seeing the outside kingdom as a terribly compromised, disease ridden hovel that they should seek to “fix”. After all, if their greatest warriors/envoys were so susceptible, what did that mean for the poor, unwashed masses of Equestria? The princesses were not able to help them, but they in their town had the medicine and the work ethic to save the world.

Starlights heinous plan backfired when the Elements sensed their users in danger and the great injustice taking place at her hooves. They appeared in front of the cutie mark-less Mane 6, healed their illness, and violently took their cutie marks back from their containment, alongside all the villager’s cutie marks.

Then every single Mane 6 member got their power up, and as Starlight had feared, Twilight got the most power of them all. Immortality and the power to influence the stars.

It had all gone wrong! She was supposed to win, she was supposed to prevent this! But that was a mistake she did not intend to repeat. The hunt to arrest her would soon reach a fever pitch, especially as the Mane 6 figured out how to work their new powers and her victims revealed details about the cult. The traitors. How could they do this to her, after all she had done for them?!

Starlight’s only hope was to reverse time and prevent these 6 ponies from ever getting their cutie marks and from ever meeting. She was not strong enough to take them as they were now, not even with the finest dark magic the criminal underworld had to offer.

She didn’t care who got hurt in the process of rewriting the timestream. After all, an Equestria pockmarked and weakened by multiple successful villain attacks was ripe for the taking. How would the ponies not get disillusioned with the Princesses for their failure to protect everyone? If not by storming the castle, she’d take control by campaigning for a government role and filling the cities with her empty promises.

So yeah, I didn’t like how Starlight was just… allowed to walk free after everything she did. She manipulated and abused an entire village and kept them in strict seclusion for years. Over a guy. Who didn’t even do anything heinous to her, he just left to study [as a child] and they fell out of contact.

Then she stalked the Mane 6 for months, so she could learn their weaknesses. She went back in time to prevent Equestria’s current defenders from getting together, with no regard towards the threat of villains they had defeated. Or the fact that she was erasing decades of pony lives over the 6 people she had a vendetta against. Think about how many lives she would have rewritten, even without the villains as a factor.

Starlight had to have heard about Discord, Tirek, Nightmare Moon, and Crysalis after studying the Mane 6 and wandering the cities of Equestria; she had to have known she was risking it all.

No Starlight, you losing a childhood friendship does not give you a pass for being a manipulative, isolating cult leader, trapping the Mane 6 in your cult with the intent of keeping them there indefinitely, and especially rewriting the timeline over getting defeated for it!

And the kicker is that Twilight knows this, she knows she hurt Moondancer, and she never became an abusive villain over it. She also knows Sunset Shimmer wanted power, but even she wasn’t this bad. She was manipulative, but the mind control gloves didn’t come on until she was corrupted with Twilight’s crown. She also didn’t confine people against their will in a random desert.

Starlight should have been placed in Tartarus with the likeminded Tirek. If they ever got back out and teamed up, it would either be the Mane 6 and Discord, or Twilight and Discord who defeated them. But that’s a story for another day.

Instead of Starlight raiding the changeling hive with Discord, Trixie and Thorax, a mix of old allies who didn’t live in Ponyville came.

Coco Pommel realized Rarity had missed an important deadline yet was radio silent about it.

RaRa noticed Applejack hadn’t written to her in a while, and they hadn’t had another falling out.

Maude sensed something was wrong.

Spike failed to visit Ember, something he would never do, not without sending a letter via dragon fire.

Gilda happened to be in town wanting to visit Rainbow Dash, but she was acting very… unloyal. Like they didn’t ever meet, and that wasn’t the kind of prank Rainbow would pull.

Moondancer was sent by the princesses after Twilight put off a visit to Canterlot that she wouldn't have wanted to miss.

Might make a future post about that event, but that’s all for now. More redesigns coming soon.

[gortash-did-nothing-wrong]

Fatherhood

Warnings: mentions of spanking children, mentions of Enver being abused as a child, incredibly brief mentions of a child wandering off and their mother panicking, implied murder but it's barely touched on.

Enver is a bit of a conundrum as a father, you've come to realize by the time your oldest is seven. He is equally strict and lenient. He demands his children have a rigorous study regimen with the best tutors money and blackmail can get, and an active lifestyle. He's less strict about their physical activity, allowing them to simply pick a hobby that requires physical prowess and he arranged for tutors and coaches to help them excel at it. Their oldest takes a fancy to horseback riding and Enver arranges for a purebred warhorse to be delivered to his stables.

"Absolutely not." You say firmly, disappointing your seven year old daughter. "She's not even four feet tall yet, a fall from that beast would kill her!"

"Well my dearest, I believe the point is that she stays in the saddle." He teased.

You threw a handful of hay at his head. The next day there was an age appropriate pony in the stables instead.

Your second child wanders off in town one day, and three panic attacks later, you find him at a blacksmith shop, staring wide eyed as a lovely tiefling man explains to him the process of smelting ore. You grab your five year old boy, holding him in your arms as you apologize. "I am so very sorry, he's a very curious boy, and fast on his feet!"

"No trouble at all." Damon, he introduces himself as, says. "In fact, I'm in the market for some help around the forge?"

Your son spends his weekends at Damon's shop, carrying buckets of coal, writing down orders, and even sometimes swinging a hammer. Enver is beside himself with joy at the sight of his son dirty with soot and his hands blistered.

"And a fine young smith he'll make!" Enver proclaims. "He's got my broad shoulders after all, and look at those hands! They'll only get tougher with every blister, my boy!"

"Isn't he a bit young for so much labor?" You asked, applying some ointment and bandages to your son's hands. "He's not even getting paid."

Damon had offered your son five copper a week, generous for the labor a five year old could provide. Enver had refused, instead sending his son to Damon with one hundred gold a week for the blacksmithing lessons.

"Experience is more valuable at his age than coin. And come now, my dear wife, money is of no issue to us. Anything he wants I'll just buy him!"

Ah, yes, Enver's leniency. As strict as Enver was about demanding his children perform well in their studies, when it came to other areas of life your children were somewhat spoiled. Your daughter had a new outfit every other week it seemed, and both your children's pockets were often filled with candy. They had new toys monthly, their old ones being donated to the orphanages whenever they piled up. Enver saw no point denying them anything.

Until they required discipline. Something you found out about your husband was that he refused to ever hit your children, not even a light smack on the back of their hand. The idea disgusted him whenever you mentioned it. He forbid you from raising a hand to them, something that you found difficult on days when they tried your patience but ultimately you managed. One of your nursemaids had spanked your oldest lightly when she was caught trying to climb out of a window to see if she could run across the rooftop like a cat. Enver had found out, and despite you trying to save the woman's job, you had never seen her again. You doubt she was simply fired, though. Even after the nether brain was defeated and certain activities of your husband stopped... He always had some kind of experiment or tribute to Bane going on. You suspect the woman was a victim to one of them, despite her spanking being a product of fearing for your daughter's life.

The only punishment Enver ever inflicted on his children were stern lectures, and denial of free time. Or the introduction of chores. Watching your oldest try to wash dishes in the kitchen as a punishment had been mildly amusing. Soap suds had gotten everywhere, and she was causing more issues than helping the staff, but the point was she hated doing it.

Your son was the more well behaved child, his only frequent bit of mischief was wandering off unannounced. And whenever he was found, he was either pouring over books in the library, up to his elbows in dirt outside, or sneaking into his father's workshop to 'borrow' tools.

Still, Enver was strict on both of your children conforming to the rules of the house, of which no running off was one. Your son was frequently punished with chores like sweeping, scrubbing, even laundry. After one particularly boring afternoon, you walked into the back yard of the estate to see your son having rigged up a mechanical washing system powered by a donkey your daughter had helped him lead over by his reins.

"Menaces." You mumbled, before going to fetch Enver. Thirty minutes later, you sat in a chair, drinking lemonade and watching Enver and your son both work on the mechanical washing system. "Men."

Your daughter, sitting next to you with a glass of apple juice, grunted in agreement. "Overgrown boys."

You remark on his odd parenting one evening as you feed your third child, a darling little girl that's only two. "I must say, I've never met a man of your status that doesn't occasionally hit his children. My father was quite strict with his belt, so are all of my brothers with their children."

"Your family hardly ever sees each other." Enver said pointedly, sipping a glass of bourbon as he reads the evening newspaper. "Didn't you go five years without even speaking to your father?"

You pause, weighing his words. "Yes... I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious what caused you to be so different. Is it a Lower City cultural norm to not spank your children?"

Enver snorts, abandoning his newspaper to go find his snuff box. "My father was more fond of his fists than his belt."

You feel your face grow pale. "Oh... I'm-"

"Don't." He says firmly, forgetting his pipe and tobacco in favor of coming to stand beside your chair. His hand, calloused yet gentle, pets your hair. "It's the past. It's over. And all those who have wronged me are either dead or worse." He says lowly.

He bends down, kissing your two year old on her chubby little cheek. "And my children will never fear their parents."

[melonae]

I wanted to put some thought into Anya when it comes to the way people interpret her pregnancy and SA, more especially, how people around her react to it.

Everyone is complicit, first off. But I think that’s kind of baseline information, but fixating on the idea that Anya is to be around a man during this time is in some way, not helpful either.

It hurts that Anya tries to make the best of the situation. She loves board games— rages at them— and is persistent, she clearly doesn’t try to give up nor back down. There’s so many reoccurring themes of childbirth and the burden carried by that especially by someone like her in these circumstances.

And Curly doesn’t help despite having the opportunity to simply because of his bond with Jimmy, in fact, the first question to come up is “how will this affect US? what will WE do?”

I think we need to stop thinking about the possibility that Swansea, Curly, or Daisuke could’ve helped Anya from Jimmy, but instead think what Anya tried to do herself. She’s clearly wanting for the happiness for everyone in the tulpar, at least, tries to make it work.

All this to say this also, in some way, includes herself. She once wasn’t entirely a doormat to much, she doesn’t just let things happen. But as a victim of SA (while not physical) I understand how she changes, especially with how Jimmy exhibits his power in such an insecure yet loud, bursting way.

All this to also say she would not keep that fucking baby. She would absolutely not keep that baby in pursuit of her dreams, which is also kind of clear when thinking about the fact she tried to apply numerous times and possibly works at pony express to have enough money to try once more.

But I’m sorry if this is misinterpreting, I’m just rambling. If you can’t tell Anya’s character holds the most precious place in my cold heart.

If she had a favorite song, it would be The Winner Takes it All by ABBA.

she also would really like vanilla and strawberry parfaits, the ones with star-shaped sprinkles on them.