Crescent Star, A Very Normal Very Safe Fusion That Nopony Needs To Worry About.

Even if it's hard to see or feel progress in the day to do day, the longer it goes the easier it becomes to look back and see how much things have changed.

Azure, after... everything. Should be her final form for a while, minus the secret bits too small to depict in this level of detail. Consider this an up to date reference of sorts.

Adore this take, and strongly agree with it. If Discord had ever actually proven himself capable of half-functioning independently I'd have accepted his "redemption" more but as it went he was always more of a problem than he was worth.

I'm invested now, why don't you like fluttercord?

Okay, here we go then, why don't I like one of the most famous and prolific ships on the fandom?

First of all, there's a major power imbalance at play, you know, chaos god that can reshape mind and reality with a snap of his fingers matched with a regular pegasus girl, and an drastic age difference (which could be discarded cause Fluttershy's an adult, just worth a mention.)

But the primary issue comes from the canon itself, especially with how they came together. Fluttershy was just shafted for her full responsibility to be to make sure Discord gets better; Something that already was a strange choice of Celestia (like girl why are you throwing a random mortal you dont know that well onto a godlike chaos being even you struggled with? It reeks of writers already having come up a solution and not wanting to build a foundation to lead there.) and canon proves again and again that if discord doesnt have fluttershy around, he will make bad choices and hurt people, something that gets proven again and again all the way to gen fucking five. That's textbook codependency and it makes it even more weird by the incredible, terrifying power imbalance. Discord isnt just an alicorn, hes the only one of his kind because of how powerful he is, and his powers are insanely dangerous to have on a relationship with a mortal. Like, you saw how he was when he was jealous of Fluttershy for having a diffrent friend. Can you imagine what he'd do if somebody flirted with her? (even if they weren't dating, if Fluttershy said she got a girlfriend or whatever, Discord would straight up throw rainbow dash on a labyrinth of infinite agony)

I think my primary issues come from the canon because he is always abusing his powers, never using them wisely, and always causing trouble (WHICH WAS THE ORIGINAL POINT OF EVEN BRINGING HIM BACK TOO)-- And the ratio of slaps on the wrist lower dramatically by the end (the final conflict is entirely his fault purely because he thought having a conflict would be cool)-- All of which just makes him untrustworthy to be on a relationship with a mortal hes obssesed with. He'd be like a yandere boyfriend exept a chaos god, which, yikes!

Srsly the fact that cozy glow the toddler gets sent to hell and turned to stone instead of the chaos god that sponsored her is just plain WEIRD. It's a writers problem.

There's a reasons why Alicorns have to ascend, earn their power-- And why they tend to abuse it less. Being born with power just begets a diffrent attitude towards it; Which is smth that the writers do interpret quite well, with how Discord acts. he has no empathy, he doesnt need to care, because reality is his to shape, and then boom, teaching someone to be better just became a lot harder. Good character! Very funny, very well designed and voiced-- But goddamn he's weirdly written as a ""Good"" guy.

Now lets finally turn to the woman in the relationship. because Fluttershy is a normal mortal gal with a normal mortal life with her own needs, which generally shouldn't have to involve her entire life or routine on making sure a godlike manbaby does the right thing with his powers. it doesn't feel like the kind of thing that has any consent to it, after all, discord doesnt need to ask for anything, he can just do. (THANKS FOR THE IDEA CELESTIA) It just reeks of a kind of misoginy-ass writing where the woman has to bend over backwards for the man.

Its like the shy pegasus was just. Set up for LIFE on this strange relationship. Its kind of creepy.

And Fluttershy just deserves better than him in my opinion; And she can do better, too. Also it doesnt help that you know-- 99% other ship with fluttershy dont have any of these issues lmao. Even canon Rainbow Dash would treat her better, so i dont bother with Fluttercord ever!

hi there nice to meet you names electro storm

Hi there! Apologies, for taking so long. I got uh... distracted. It's been a hectic few months.

The Equestria Games have begun, but the new "Princess Star" is playing a much more dangerous game of her own. Not even Apollopolis interrupting and showing off their fancy death ray could break her poise - she just saw it as a chance to take control of the situation and impress someone else.

Of course she could have killed everyone here in the process if she ticked him off too much, but she's much too crazed by hormones to respond to fear rationally...

I don't usually do anything humanoid shaped so forgive me for messy proportions and lack of hands, but did art for @sol-red-rose because they're loved.

You know what? It's my Tumblr I can do what I want with it. But truth be told I don't even know where to start! Contextually there's so much about this to explain it's kind of hard, so this will end up more a stream of consciousness than an organized post, but so be it.

First is the basic premise that this character and much of the art I've done surrounding them is derived from a sort of collaborative writing with my partner, a project that I'm working to fanfic-ify slowly in the background. Obligatory warning that there's some inappropriate relationship dynamics going to be mentioned here. First of which is the dreaded Canon x OC. I joke, I joke, but that's unpopular with some people. The OC in question is Azure Star! Failed Alicorn clone made by some supervillains, technically inbred little disaster, and student at a school designed to fix the problems of a dysfunctional but not entirely hopeless AU Equestria. The canon is the local variant of Twilight Sparkle, who is generally a much less... functional person.

I'll start listing all the ways this horrible ship - which isn't in any way official in-universe at this moment but is set in motion with a horrific inevitability - is something that by all means should not have been pursued but was chosen to be anyways, in no particular order

Twilight is her instructor at the impromptu school to train up diplomats and "heroes". She's not substantially older than Azure, only a few years, but there's still a strange imbalance of power that would make it inappropriate from a modern context, even if nobody cares in the near-feudal society they live in.

Azure was adopted by one of her Biological "parents"/genetic donors (Celestia) after they figured out what she was. This wouldn't be so bad in theory if Celie hadn't used her student as an emotional surrogate daughter to deal with the stress of losing Sunset, who in this universe was all but adopted in everything but paperwork and titles. Being unhealthily emotionally involved in the life of a student that actually still has living, loving parents is definitely on her, but it does leave her mentally screaming while watching her unhealthily attached student get flirted with by her new new kid.

The entire previous point is made more complicated by the fact that, due to AU shenanigans, Twilight never left or made friends, despite the timeline being slightly advanced. She still managed to ascend despite this, through a yet to be uncovered means. This made her unhealthy attachment far worse as it effectively gave her an excuse to stick around the palace indefinitely even well after her mentor realized the mistakes of letting her get so dependent and tried to start pushing her out on her own. This has left her with a general lack of experience with friendships in general, let alone anything more than that.

Azure is already in a committed polyamorous relationship, and basically admitted to flirting with someone else in front of her current partners devoid of shame. Not an open relationship mind you, but one they agreed after that was more democratic and universally inclusive - meaning Azure is effectively tasked with not just the task of seducing an instructor who doesn't care much for socialization in general, but somehow convincing her that her girlfriends are great too and she should join their bizarre coven.

It's worth noting that while the world overall is more friendly to this "herding" behavior and more varied orientations overall, Canterlot, the place they actually live, is one of the more staunchly conservative medieval societies that does not exactly approve of such things, especially from its royalty

Despite this all, they actually have become friends and have enough genuine chemistry that it could theoretically work out, assuming that all the above is addressed. Despite the awkwardness Azure's bluntness has led to her feelings being an open secret, and admitting to flirting wasn't totally rebuffed but softly pushed away with a reminder that they haven't known each other that long and that she'd like to get to know her better before even thinking of anything past being friends. But wait? That's all very weird and maybe problematic, but it's not exactly Toxic, is it? Well that was all the status quo until one vital change, one crucial moment. See Azure had been working on ripping the Nightmare Spirit off of Luna (who is still, presently, in the moon due to the timeline of that whole event shifting slightly) before she even came back, ever since she found out it was a separate entity at all. And despite the odds - she succeeded. Unfortunately, the means used meant she was the perfect living bridge for it to get out of the moon and back into the world, and while she was able to resist and prevent it from sticking with her, it was let loose into the palace and the Royals present failed to capture it before it faded into shadows.

Azure does not know where it went. But I do. Of all the royals present there was a chance for any of them to be vulnerable, but Twilight was the one who failed to resist it completely, who only merely thought they repelled its mental invasion. And that has led to a strange present and a tumultuous future. For while the spirit hasn't been able to take control and cause a total transformation yet, it is able to amplify negative emotions in its unwitting host, and feed off of them to recoup its power.

Since it has taken root poor Twilight has been pushed to the brink of a meltdown with continuous feelings of Insecurity - rooted in issues that existed beforehand. Yet despite this she has grown more friendly, even openly affectionate in a mostly platonic way, with her confused but perhaps too happy to question it student. All because of a toxic feedback loop.

Twilight had confided a great deal of insecurity to her student already. Despite being an Alicorn she didn't feel she really had a clear role or purpose to serve in life, and felt aimless. At the same rate she is boxed in by the expectations of royalty - there are certain things she can and cannot do now, different ways that others treat her, and responsibilities she didn't exactly want to deal with. And while she actually found herself wanting friends and socialization sometimes, she has never been exceptionally good at understanding it.

Azure however has done nothing but fail upward and seemingly succeed at everything she has set out to do since showing up. Helping others on missions, easily making friends, pursuing the political side of being royalty as soon as she had gained it, getting some of Celestia's precious time all to herself, and even pursuing relationships that most would only speak of in whispers with a cavalier openness and fearlessness.

While much of this is admired it's clear that there's also a layer of envy in those feelings. Azure to her side of things is also not entirely honest - she more than admires her mentor as a personal idol and hero, but sees something else in them that hasn't been spoken - a guarantee for the future. While she is still, in her own eyes, an "unfinished" Alicorn Azure intends to and is actively training to rectify that so her parent's don't have to outlive her, but she is acutely aware of the consequences. Beneath her positive demeanor is a deeply traumatized and codependent personality - nothing is so horrifying to her as being alone. Given that she's the only current Immortal within so many years of her that isn't already related to her somehow, Azure doesn't have much choice but to pursue her if she wants to find someone who can truly understand her that she can keep Forever without fear of losing some day. She would do literally anything to somehow secure her eternal affection.

Together these two facts make the foundation of the Nightmare spirit's perfectly toxic natural habitat. By just boosting and loosening up on negative feelings in the right moment it can stick them in a loop of horrible codependency and insecurity that it can feed on, directly or by proxy, pretty much indefinitely. Twilight will never be allowed to feel fully secure in herself in Azure's presence, always comparing herself negatively, a trait that will only be magnified over time as Azure no doubt continues to succeed while she runs in place, getting stronger but never finding something meaningful to do with it. Brief moments of lessened pain together will encourage them to stay close, but only so that the shadow cast is that much bigger. Azure's sheer obsessive willingness to please will be exploited as Twilight's hunger for knowledge and the power to be meaningful is pushed until they're both hard at work to find ways to make her stronger (and a stronger host later) no matter what ethical lines are blurred or crossed. Azure's optimism is kept at bay with always being led on with teases of approval to keep her around and subservient, but never so much as to become confident, leaving her forever hungry and trying to prove herself as "good enough", and turning one of the few threats to the spirit in the future into a dependent lackey that will be unable to stop them when the time finally comes.

For the spirit, this cycle is nothing but a victory. Finally that silly abstract idea of "love" is not a weakness, but a poison to be wielded like a weapon until two of its greatest threats have been reduced into nothing but puppets. And while the conclusion has yet to be written... I can only be certain the climax of this strained loop will be painful for more than just them.

Driving myself mad with recent developments in my silly collaborative Pony story that I long to ramble about. I'm not even building up towards Toxic Yuri at this rate, this is going to be nuclear accident that scars the planet for centuries to come Yuri by the end of it. I'm ready to infodump about my gay little tire fire for hours at any who'd listen.

Azure learning about Love Fire for Mare's Day. Happy Mother's day Reduced Size because Tumblr couldn't handle the original

I experimented with eh consequences of last drawing. Kind of feel like this is too... subdued for what I was going for though.

I've tried so hard working on a silly thing with my SO to make something unrecognizable to that silly, uninspired school. Houses? Yeah they have them because the idea is rooted in real practices but they're undermined almost immediately and became totally irrelevant to any story beats. Magic system? Explored by a protagonist who's actually curious about how it works. Why would you not also be teaching classes like math and literature just because magic is part of the curriculum? Why should you have death-traps and bury ancient valuables in a place of learning?

Also it allows trans students so, you know, incompatible with that work on principle

if you are a millennial in the medium of storytelling and you are making a magical school setting, there is going to be a little worm in your brain that is telling you take make harry potter references. what you need to do is gently coax that worm out with treats and then smash it to death with a hammer and do literally anything else.