This has a rationalist flavour, I felt.

Since I update my decision on who is best pony based on who did something awesome last, best pony is now Applejack.

2977524

That was good. A powerful and underestimated truth, much like the pony.

Plus another artist to watch. Good find.

That pretty much fits with my view of "Honesty." It's not about telling the truth, it's about integrity and accepting hard things. Your own self-image is a small part of that, but it can also be about accepting outside truths and uncomfortable facts. Like needing help with a hard project, accepting failure, and breaking hard truths to other people.

Insightful. Thank you.

2977524
Wildly OOC and poorly drawn Applejack. Not particularly awesome.

2977524
Maybe Applejack would talk that way if they allowed her to develop away from Charming Farmgirl Hick into someone with some education beyond apples.

2981444
True, but in this comic the pony who is speaking is not like an educated Applejack -- it is much more like 3/4ths Twilight, 1/4th AJ.

The main problem behaviour here is talking like a book. AJ is pragmatic and grounded enough that she won't talk like a book. She'll say a few things, listen, and adapt what she says next to the response she gets; that's a normal pattern of conversation for someone who has decent social skills and control of themselves. Unless the other person is utterly rapt (and most likely listening to the sound of your voice more than what you are actually saying), this is how conversation goes.

By comparison, we know canonically that Twilight does not have a working off switch.. she doesn't just blurt out stuff randomly, but she does have a tendency to speak as if she's been asked to read out an essay, fail to pick up any more subtle social cues for when is enough, and etc. That broadly matches what AJ is made to do in this comic.

2977524 I looked at his other comics. I especially like this one on who's in control, the writer or the character?

2984030 The last panel slew me.

2984030 Thanks for that!