[FFML] [www][fanfic][xover][Star Wars][My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic] MARE WARS Equisode V @ MythrilMoth.net

[Mythril Moth]

I would like to address certain points of the criticism levied upon this 
story. I would have done so yesterday, at the time said critcism was posted, 
but for various reasons I was ill-equipped to compose a lengthier response 
at that time.

Certain comments made might lead you to believe that the entirety of Mare 
Wars is a simple retread of Star Wars, with ponies as the cast, and no 
changes aside from a lot of pony puns.

That's not quite the case at all. It's true that the core concept of Mare 
Wars is "it's Star Wars with ponies", but there is more going on here than 
that.

The first part, Equisode IV, *does* follow the script of the first Star Wars 
movie fairly closely, albeit condensing and deleting a number of scenes and 
adding far too many pony puns and fourth-wall jokes. I'll admit this. Even 
with these flaws, I think it should be obvious that differences abound in 
this first installment.

The thing is, it's difficult to deviate very much from the source script of 
Episode IV: A New Hope when writing an epic parody/homage of the entire 
saga. The first film simply does not allow for much wiggle room. In order to 
set up the sequels and to a lesser extent the prequels, events in Episode IV 
are extremely difficult to deviate substantially from. "Luke" has to leave 
Tatooine, "Leia" has to be imprisoned, "Vader" has to kill "Obi-Wan", the 
"Death Star" has to explode, and so forth.

THESE THINGS HAVE TO HAPPEN in order for ANYTHING ELSE to make sense.

Beginning in Empire Strikes Back, however, there is room for a broader 
interpretation of events. Depending upon what you're crossing Star Wars over 
with, depending on what you plan to change about the core plot of the 
franchise, and a number of other factors, it is in the SECOND, not the 
FIRST, installment where greater deviation is first possible.

And in Return of the Jedi, you can take it even further, essentially 
torpedoing the original plot straight to hell if you so desire.

But setting this all aside...

The point of MARE WARS is to retell the story of Star Wars using My Little 
Pony characters and a shitload of horse puns. It is, after all, first and 
foremost a parody. I have gone far beyond that, farther than you may yet 
know because see my above point about Return of the Jedi, but when you read 
this story, you should be expecting exactly what you get: Twilight Sparkle 
as Luke, Rainbow Dash as Han, and Rarity as Leia. You should be expecting 
dozens of godawful horse puns. You should be expecting silly jokes.

Perhaps you should also be expecting significant deviations from the basic 
plot of Star Wars, and if you read through to the end of Equisode V, you 
will find that these deviations do in fact exist. Not only in irrelevant 
details such as changing the nature of a specific action sequence, but in 
the alteration of core plot concepts and extensive additions (such as the 
backstory of Applo, Bigmacca, and Rain). The upcoming Equisode VI will carry 
this much farther, including the addition of many scenes that would not be 
necessary or possible if not for the events which have already been altered 
in the previous installments. In addition to the events of Return of the 
Jedi, scenes included will be the aftermath of Twilight's training failures, 
reinterpretations of scenes omitted from Equisode V, and a lengthy segment 
detailing the rescue of the residents of Alderaanch, which was NOT destroyed 
in Equisode IV.

As to criticisms of my writing and narrative style: I respectfully disagree 
with these criticisms. Everyone has their own ideas and opinions about what 
does and does not make for good narrative. Having reread each installment of 
my own work three times, I see no substantial narrative flaws. I am 
receptive to a detailed analysis of the perceived flaws, and will capitulate 
if indeed problems are decisively demonstrated, but as it stands, I'm just 
not seeing the alleged laziness in the writing. If anyone can convince me 
otherwise, I will make the appropriate corrections.

One final note:

I find the remark that Spaceballs was better than this deeply personally 
insulting. Mel Brooks has only made three good movies in his entire life. 
Spaceballs was not one of them.


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Mythril Moth
www.mythrilmoth.net