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In my potentially biased assessment.. it would seem that the Angel is serving the same figurative role of the monolith in Arthur C Clark's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and the lifetime of the young pony reflects the uplift from mindless apes to intelligent hominids.
The technological progression pointed out earlier is a bit of a misnomer, since the Angel can give the pony certain small bits of technology - knowing that they will be there to serve a simple purpose, and then be lost forever. The ponies level of advancement is still fairly primitive, but obviously encouraged by the Angel. Still, credit where credit is due, the cream colored pony was a fast learner, and a very curious individual.
If you're selectively breeding a crop - you look for the very best one out of the bunch to start the next generation.
The surprising dietary choices of this pony might have been more of a metaphorical progression from her younger days. Where she was previously preyed upon by the creatures of the forest, she is now on a more equal footing. On a physiological note, while horses and ponies are nominally herbivorous, they can eat meat and digest protein. You could compare this to humans before the invention of fire, when our diets consisted mainly of fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Showing this pony how to make fire and cook food was just another leg up on the evolutionary path.
The battle near the end was simply another test. There are many personalities contained within the Angel, and some of them were eager to put forth a worthy opposing force. Guided rockets, automatic cannons, and towering genetic abominations are not even a distant dream for the ponies of this world. They, much like the ill-fated herd that grew around the cream-colored pony, were created on the spot for the purpose of this scenario.
The Angel does like giving her tests. Would she gather others into a herd? Would she teach them ways to cooperate and improve their chances of survival? Would she lead them? Protect them? Ensure survival of the group at the cost of her own life?
It seems almost cruel. But would it have been more so to simply let her die by the lake? Certainly would have been easier.
Now, the story does have a few flaws. I might surmise that the author probably procrastinated up to the very last day, then banged out the last two thousand words somewhere between 1:00 to 8:00 AM. Probably while re-watching Totally Legit Recaps on youtube and videos of a less savory variety on other streaming sites. I bet a lot of cigarette breaks were involved too. This might explain some of small errors that didn't get picked up during the four minute and thirty second final proofreading before the story was submitted.
It feels like some things were hastily cut from the story - such as the history of the angel, how many times the cream colored pony died during some of the tests, and some philosophical musings on how the choices that define our destinies might be viewed from the perspective of an omnipotent jerkass who has known the ennui of cosmic heat death. It was probably for the better, but the story could have used a little more attention to smooth out the voids left by the excised portions.
Well, it does have ponies, at least.
And Discord.
The technological progression pointed out earlier is a bit of a misnomer, since the Angel can give the pony certain small bits of technology - knowing that they will be there to serve a simple purpose, and then be lost forever. The ponies level of advancement is still fairly primitive, but obviously encouraged by the Angel. Still, credit where credit is due, the cream colored pony was a fast learner, and a very curious individual.
If you're selectively breeding a crop - you look for the very best one out of the bunch to start the next generation.
The surprising dietary choices of this pony might have been more of a metaphorical progression from her younger days. Where she was previously preyed upon by the creatures of the forest, she is now on a more equal footing. On a physiological note, while horses and ponies are nominally herbivorous, they can eat meat and digest protein. You could compare this to humans before the invention of fire, when our diets consisted mainly of fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Showing this pony how to make fire and cook food was just another leg up on the evolutionary path.
The battle near the end was simply another test. There are many personalities contained within the Angel, and some of them were eager to put forth a worthy opposing force. Guided rockets, automatic cannons, and towering genetic abominations are not even a distant dream for the ponies of this world. They, much like the ill-fated herd that grew around the cream-colored pony, were created on the spot for the purpose of this scenario.
The Angel does like giving her tests. Would she gather others into a herd? Would she teach them ways to cooperate and improve their chances of survival? Would she lead them? Protect them? Ensure survival of the group at the cost of her own life?
It seems almost cruel. But would it have been more so to simply let her die by the lake? Certainly would have been easier.
Now, the story does have a few flaws. I might surmise that the author probably procrastinated up to the very last day, then banged out the last two thousand words somewhere between 1:00 to 8:00 AM. Probably while re-watching Totally Legit Recaps on youtube and videos of a less savory variety on other streaming sites. I bet a lot of cigarette breaks were involved too. This might explain some of small errors that didn't get picked up during the four minute and thirty second final proofreading before the story was submitted.
It feels like some things were hastily cut from the story - such as the history of the angel, how many times the cream colored pony died during some of the tests, and some philosophical musings on how the choices that define our destinies might be viewed from the perspective of an omnipotent jerkass who has known the ennui of cosmic heat death. It was probably for the better, but the story could have used a little more attention to smooth out the voids left by the excised portions.
I'm also not sure how this story relates to MLP. I don't see any MLP mythos in this, or friendship, or anything to connect the show to the tale.
Well, it does have ponies, at least.
And Discord.
>>Trick_Question
I believe he was the other floating morally ambivalent entity with powers that tracscended time and space.
I believe he was the other floating morally ambivalent entity with powers that tracscended time and space.