[ SECRET POST #2751 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2751 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 043 secrets from Secret Submission Post #393.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - tar fields, I assume. No more linking after this. If you want to play a character, do it in the Games thread or a roleplay community, please ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Typical fic/art pet peeves that worked

[feotakahari]

I'm not sure whether I'm going to regret this . . .

So I found a Friendship is Magic fic that:

* Starred an aged-up Spike, years after the show.
* Had Spike grow up to be physically attractive by pony standards.
* Used the fanonical conceit of ponies grouping into "herds," with mares outnumbering stallions in the herds due to a much higher birth rate of mares.
* Had a subplot involving dragons as guardians of Equestria who'd fallen from grace and lost sight of their purpose. (Yes, this fic has sexy Spike AND hero Spike!)
* Was rated Mature for sex.
* Made all the characters humanoid bipeds, because the author thought the idea of pony sex was kind of gross.
* Was written by an author whose first language clearly wasn't English.

Yeah, this had all the signs for "trainwreck." But I read the prologue anyway, and I was surprised by how much emotion the author put into it. His version of Spike is a very likable protagonist, wanting attention but afraid he doesn't deserve it, in way over his head from the start, but rolling with whatever fate deals him. The girls are charming, too, and unlike in a lot of romance fics, they have goals and desires apart from the MC and expectations for him to fulfill. I was also intrigued by the worldbuilding--it's a setting where society is close to egalitarian, but leans mildly sexist in favor of women, with men considered attractive if they're strong but submissive, which opens up all sorts of reversals on standard tropes and interactions.

I'm not even close to an unbiased party here--I signed on as the story's first editor, and I've had a lot of influence on how it played out. The author actually offered me a co-writer position at one point, though I turned it down. But before I signed on to edit, I saw potential in that first awkward chapter, and I'm proud to have helped make it all it could be.

Of Dragons and Mortals. Messy, awkward, and fun--a lot like its subject matter.