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[Sean Mirrsen]

And for those of a more image inclination, what is wrong with this picture?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Technically, it's too freaking large. Other than that and the random allicorn pony, no idea. Unless you mean how Twilight's is the only desk in the center row.

[Dsarker]

Biblical

WIll assume a more or less Protestant old+new testament version of "biblical." Please correct me if you had something else in mind.

the situation is Edenic in nature.

Ok, but Eden accounts for 43 verses from the book of Genesis: 2:4 to Genesis 3:21. Less than two chapters out of a book with 50 chapaters, from one single book out of 66 books in the (christian) Bible. Saying that Equestria being vaguely Edenic makes FIM a Biblical metaphor is like saying that since my mouth has saliva in it, that makes it resemble the Atlantic ocean.

And while there are a few matches between MLP and Eden, there are lots of very significant mismatches:

 * No nonsense about trees or fruit
 * No temptation story
 * No fall from grace, and no being kicked out
 * There were two humans in Eden. How many ponies are there?

I was referring to Eden as a paradise, which is what the world resembles. That's how it starts off with. Now, Eden is usually recognised as a metaphor for the 'perfect' relationship with God. The fall from grace is seen by the betrayal of the relationship. And you know what the people do? They run and hide. Hmmm...Twilight's relationship with Celestia, anyone?

a direct relationship with a divine being

But very little similarlity between the divine beings in question.

 * Two goddesses doesn't mesh well with a singular god who insists on having "No other gods before me."
 * Even if you consider the triumverate, the numbers still don't match: Celestia/Luna, Father/Son/Holy Ghost, and no obvious way to reconcile the difference.
 * The corruption/banishment/redemption of goddess Luna is a very significant event in Equestria. I see no suitable metaphor for this in the bible.
 * The obvious "sun/Jesus" metaphor doesn't really work, because Celestia is the sun, but Luna is not her father. Celestia appears to be the one more fully "in charge" which would tend to imply that she's "the Father" rather than the son. And neither Celestia nor Luna seem to have any notion of redemption or salvation for ponies being through either of them. The only character who's been "redeemed" is Luna. If anything, MLP is an inversion on this point, because Luna was redeemed by the mane cast. This would be like saying that Jesus can only be brought to god by the actions of man. The whole metaphor just isn't working.

Oh, sure, it's plainly heretical.  And the Sun/Jesus metaphor is the assimilation of dirty heathen cults anyway.

As for this, I'd note the years used. One thousand. Now, this turns up somewhere else in the Bible, in the book of Revelation. Specifically, it mentions the millenial (of one thousand years) reign of Christ, after which the devil returns and they have it out again. Guess what happened after a thousand years from when Celestia came to power?

We've got two 'evil' beings, who are mostly evil because
they have turned away from Celestia and are rebels.

...k.

Few problems with that:

1) The christian notion of Satan as a fallen angel is not really biblical. Satan in the bible hasn't been cast out of heaven at all, nor is there any indication that he's turned away from god. Rather, he is present in heaven and he acts like either a private investigator or a legal assistant, depending on how you look at it. For example, in the book of Job, Satan is in heaven reporting to god personally in a more or less advisory capacity.

2) Even if you ignore what the bible actually says and work with what christians think it says:

a) According to Celestia, Discord was the former ruler of Equestria before she and Luna overthrew him. That would be like Satan ruling in heaven until god and his little sister kicked him out.

b) You say two 'evil' beings. I assume you mean Luna and Discord. how do you reconcile two single,  individual beings rebelling against Celestia with the "biblical" notion of a third of all angels in heaven following a singular Lucifer in rebellion?

You've misread Job. It's not Satan proper noun, it's satan as a title. Which was typical of the time. The term we have today for it? Prosecutor. As for the evil beings...let's look at both of them.

Both of them use temptation, telling their foes to just give up and do as they say. Nightmare Moon is probably a replacement for the devil, but what about Discord? Well, that's easy. Mr Snake, what with his way with words, his changing of the very environment, his way of bringing out the worst in people.

as Biblical metaphor. Discuss.

Really not seeing it.

Still?

[Sordid]

And for those of a more image inclination, what is wrong with this picture?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The legs of the desks have far too many sharp edges and thereby don't comply with health and safety regulations.

[Sean Mirrsen]

And for those of a more image inclination, what is wrong with this picture?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The legs of the desks have far too many sharp edges and thereby don't comply with health and safety regulations.

Also, these are not desks. These are stools/tables (stables?) that everybody seems to sit on for no particular reason. They're also inexplicably getting shorter towards the blackboard. And everyone's facing away from the blackboard for some reason, but that one might be normal in your American school/kindergartens, so I don't know.

[LordBucket]

the millenial (of one thousand years) reign of Christ, after which the devil
returns and they have it out again. Guess what happened after a thousand years
from when Celestia came to power?

Who is Jesus in your metaphor? Celestia? If so, who is Luna? And who are the mane six? Are they angels? If so, why are there only six of them instead of seven? Why are they defeating Discord instead of raining down plagues upon ponykind? What are the elements of harmony? Is Discord the beast? Why does he have only one head? Why does everything go back to normal after Discord is defeated? Or is Nightmare Moon the beast? If so, why does she also have only one head, why isn't Celestia/Jesus the one defeating her and who is Discord and why is he able to show up an entire season after the final battle?

You've misread Job. It's not Satan proper noun, it's satan as a title. Which was
typical of the time. The term we have today for it? Prosecutor. As for the evil
beings...let's look at both of them.

I specified to begin with that I was working with a protestant interpretation. If you want to use a jewish interpretation, we can try that...but since you've made reference to Revelations, I assume that's not what you had in mind.

Both of them use temptation, telling their foes to just give up and do as they say. Nightmare Moon is probably a replacement for the devil, but what about Discord? Well, that's easy. Mr Snake, what with his way with words, his changing of the very environment, his way of bringing out the worst in people.

1) When does Nightmare Moon tempt anyone?
2) The snake in Eden manifested no "environment changing" powers. He certainly wasn't more powerful than god. Yet Discord was apparently a threat that required both Celestia and Luna working together to defeat.
3) It seems inconsistent to suggest that Nightmare Moon is the devil and Discord is the snake in the garden, when Discord showed up fully a season after Nightmare Moon, and apparently both have the power to overcome Celestia. If your MLP scenario is played out in biblical terms, then man doesn't get expelled from the garden of Eden until after the battle at Armageddon, and the snake in the garden is more powerful then god.
4) While Celestia and Luna together defeated Discord once, when he came back a second time, they were apprarently unable to defeat him, and the mane six had to defeat him instead. How is this a biblical metaphor? I don't recall the snake in Eden being bansished only to return more powerful than god, thus requiring somebody else to step in to deal with him.
5) If Nightmare Moon is the devil, how do you explain that she was able to banish/dispose of Celestia?
6) Who is Luna in all this? How do you justify the NMM/Luna dynamic? How do you explain her redemption? What biblical parallel exists to explain any of this?

Again, you have to totally ignore so much for this to even casually resemble the bible, I just don't see this working.

Try starting out even just by identifying who corresponds to whom. Write me out a list of biblical characters and which pony character you think they're supposed to be. Because as it is, your proposals don't appear to even be self consistent.

[Zaerosz]

1) When does Nightmare Moon tempt anyone?

S1E2. Rainbow Dash. Shadowbolts. Any of this sound familiar? Nothing else to contribute in any way whatsoever, but hey.

EDIT: Goddamn I am a ninja. Never before have I posted, then seen the bottom post not be mine.

[Sordid]

Everyone's facing away from the blackboard for some reason, but that one might be normal in your American school/kindergartens, so I don't know.

Oh hey, that might account for the quality of American education. "D'oh!"

[Dsarker]

I was neither making a Jewish nor Protestant interpretation. Try 'biblical'. The word used in Job is not Satan. It is, in fact, ha-satan. Satan don't get no mention till the New Testament (and maybe in the rabbinical tradition, but I don't have my bible dictionary on hand).

As for what the different things represent, wait till I have any real time to spend on it, and I'll do that for you.

[Dsarker]

Brief first draft of fiception. How many layers can you detect already, and how visible is it/should it be made harder to guess or easier or neither?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One day Twylight was riting a letter.

Deer Princess Celestia,

While wif my friends the other day, Rainbo Dash found a book that we think you might like. It follows.

Twilight Sparkle


It was a great day in the town of Ponytown. All the ponies were doing cool stuff, especially Dainbo Rash and Lootascoo, the two gratest athletes ever, better than the Onederbolts even! They were doing sonik rainbooms! Everypony was watching them in aww and cheering them! Especially Lootascoo's friends, Bappleloum and Beatie Swell. They were cheering the lowdesd! 

Eventuallie Dainbo Rash and Lootascoo got bored of doing sonik rainbooms and went to do some other cool stuff! 

[Crazy Cow]

Keep your damn hands off that ocarina!

[LordBucket]

Flash game:
Adventures in Ponyville

Visually pleasing, and I enjoyed feeding Pinkie, but the minigames aren't much fun. Only made it about halfway to earning my cutie mark before I got bored. Still, there it is. Also, apparently no save feature so don't get too attached to your pony.

[Bohandas]

* No nonsense about trees or fruit

Weren't Over A Barrel and Applebuck Season nothing but nonsense about trees and fruit?

We've got two 'evil' beings, who are mostly evil because they have turned away from Celestia and are rebels.

Discord isn't a rebel. Celestia deposed him.

As for this, I'd note the years used. One thousand. Now, this turns up somewhere else in the Bible, in the book of Revelation. Specifically, it mentions the millenial (of one thousand years) reign of Christ, after which the devil returns and they have it out again. Guess what happened after a thousand years from when Celestia came to power?

The number one thousand turns up in a lot of places. It's a very common number. This argument reminds me of the bit on Aqua Teen Hunger Force where Frylock was freaking out about the number one hundred and started ranting about how it was supposedly invented by the Mayans and that when there was "No more room in number Hell" numbers would "roam the earth" wrecking havoc.

[Bohandas]

How can aluminum teeth break and chew gems?

Why would they not be able to?

 * Sapphires and rubies are composed of aluminum oxide. Loosely speaking, a sapphire is rusted aluminum in a crystaline form.
 * Crystalline materials tend to break more easily along their shear lines. Just like how it's easier to break a wooden board along the grain rather than against it.
 * Impact forces and compressive forces are not identical. A gem might happen to be very dense, but it is brittle, and susceptible to shattering. Chomping down violently would be more effective than attempting to slowly crush them.
 * Aluminum has roughly four times the compressive strength of bone. It's reasonable to suggest that aluminum based bone might be better for crushing than calcium/phosphorous based bone.
 * Finally, keep in mind that aluminum need not be the only material. Your teeth are not purely calcium phosphate either.

The premise here is simply that dragons requires aluminum for their skeletal structure, just like your skeleton requires calccium and phosphorous. But aluminum is not a material in great abundance in plants or animals. So to grow larger they require an alternate source, and certain gemstones are suitable. This is why baby dragons need to eat lots of gems, but adult dragons don't. Once the skeleton is fully grown, they don't require the aluminum intake they once did. This also explains the hoarding tendency of adult dragons: they're collecting gems to provide for their young.

Aluminum could not easily take a place analogous to calcium because they are in different groups on the periodic table and therefore have radically different chemical properties.
(Aluminum is in Group 13, Calcium is in Group 2)

[Sean Mirrsen]

*Remembers own idea about Star Trek/MLP crossover*
...
*pulls out tablet*
*sketch sketch sketch*
"Hmm."


You don't want to know where the shuttle bay is.

[Flying Dice]

How can aluminum teeth break and chew gems?

Why would they not be able to?

 * Sapphires and rubies are composed of aluminum oxide. Loosely speaking, a sapphire is rusted aluminum in a crystaline form.
 * Crystalline materials tend to break more easily along their shear lines. Just like how it's easier to break a wooden board along the grain rather than against it.
 * Impact forces and compressive forces are not identical. A gem might happen to be very dense, but it is brittle, and susceptible to shattering. Chomping down violently would be more effective than attempting to slowly crush them.
 * Aluminum has roughly four times the compressive strength of bone. It's reasonable to suggest that aluminum based bone might be better for crushing than calcium/phosphorous based bone.
 * Finally, keep in mind that aluminum need not be the only material. Your teeth are not purely calcium phosphate either.

The premise here is simply that dragons requires aluminum for their skeletal structure, just like your skeleton requires calccium and phosphorous. But aluminum is not a material in great abundance in plants or animals. So to grow larger they require an alternate source, and certain gemstones are suitable. This is why baby dragons need to eat lots of gems, but adult dragons don't. Once the skeleton is fully grown, they don't require the aluminum intake they once did. This also explains the hoarding tendency of adult dragons: they're collecting gems to provide for their young.

Aluminum could not easily take a place analogous to calcium because they are in different groups on the periodic table and therefore have radically different chemical properties.
(Aluminum is in Group 13, Calcium is in Group 2)

Si-based lifeforms are pretty much standard for any sort of fiction that wants non-Ca based species as their starfish aliens. I don't see why having Al-based dragons is any less acceptable in fiction.


Dammit Sean, that is spectacular! The fanfic is pretty amazing as well. All hail Celestia, Queen of Borg! (Also Patrick Stewart getting tossed into the mix as a replacement for the actual Picard was absolutely hilarious.)