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| sigh #1412611 1 month ago |
They're just an average Fluffy for the most part. The vast majority of Smarty Friends are nothing more than power hungry fluffies that assert their dominance, very few are actually intelligent enough to actually lead a herd without getting them all killed.
You can usually tell the difference between a poser Smarty Friend and the real thing when you have them come up against a human that is threatening them harm. An actually smart Smarty Friend will bolt immediately, while the poser will try to intimidate the human (most likely getting smeared on the nearest concrete for his troubles). |
| Homfrog #1412616 1 month ago |
I think it must be innate, because there's no way nurture could raise a fluffy pony to be smarter than his or her comrades. |
| General_Lemon #1412617 1 month ago |
Last I had understood, smarties only arise in cases where they believe themselves to be better, a case of arrogance.
Others have written that some come from static discharge or genetic miracles, all of which can be debated over time to settle or continue to be a split-path road. |
| Dramatic_spoon #1412656 1 month ago |
Wasn't there a fic where the guy's fluffy pony began to turn into a Smarty Friend because it was undergoing Puberty? |
| sigh #1412685 1 month ago |
There was, but I think that was the only case of that happening. |
| Anonymous #1412692 1 month ago |
Fluffy ponies mistake assertiveness as intelligence. A fluffy pony being self-confident will be called by either the rest of the herd or even by itself the smarty friend. |
| NightJack #1412699 1 month ago |
From what i have seen, in most cases a smarty friend can comprehend things better then most fluffies but in half of them they are dumber as they think that alone makes them better then anything and seem to remember nothing from interacting with humans, the rare ones that really are smarter also hate smarty friends and don't like to be called that. |
| lordanubis #1412711 1 month ago |
Typically it's any fluffy in a herd with the ambition to lead. Occasionally you'll get a smarty friend who's genuinely competent and deserving of its position, but that's hardly the norm. It's why so many herds don't last the winter, or their first encounter with serious adversity (like a predator).
Also note that only feral fluffies can become smarty friends. A domestic fluffy inherently defers to its owner for leadership. It's when a fluffy lives in the wild that a smarty friend emerges to fill the power vacuum. |
| Tabula_Rojo #1412713 1 month ago |
typically they're just more arrogant than the rest of the herd. But occasionally there is fluffy in a group that is legitimately smart and is looking out for the best interests of it's herd. Also typically, in either case, they are abuse victims |
| NightJack #1412736 1 month ago |
@lordanubis: What about Walker, he wasn't a feral, and No Lips, I don't think he was one. |
| NightJack #1412757 1 month ago |
^ No always one I mean. |
| Anonymous #1412765 1 month ago |
animals can become feral if abandoned. It's a matter of continued domestication.
I'm surprised no one's ever done a story where a smarty friend's attempted intimidation of a human is self-sacrifice. Get the focus entirely on him so the herd can get away. |
| lordanubis #1412774 1 month ago |
Walker was kicked out of his house, wasn't he? No Lips was a feral, too. His father was a smarty friend before him.
Maybe I should have said wild fluffy instead of feral, but the terms are usually used interchangeably. |
| lordanubis #1412777 1 month ago |
@765 I'm writing one like that, actually. Give me a bit. |
| NightJack #1412795 1 month ago |
I just remembered, No Lips was always a feral but when he was young most of the herd he was born in got killed from it's 'smarty friend' being an idiot, he is legitimately smart and went to lead his own but hates all 'smarty friends' and doesn't like to be called that, he didn't mind being called a 'smarty fluffy'. |
| NightJack #1412804 1 month ago |
@lordanubis: Walker wasn't kicked, he ran away, at the end after his mind was 'reset' he was taken back o his owner who did love him and missed him. |
| NightJack #1412812 1 month ago |
But he was mistreated by his owners ex-boyfriend. |
| lordanubis #1412823 1 month ago |
Oh yeah. Well, the important part was that he was removed from the company of humans. Without humans to look to for authority, smarty friends fill the gap. Look at Neckbeard's Apple Acres story. Most of Rocket's herd abandoned him after the farmer started taking care of them. Even when Rocket came back, his authority was almost entirely gone. |
| Anonymous #1412864 1 month ago |
No Lips had a herd before his current one but he also was disfigured by a human. I figured it was a human who owned him
@lordanubis: please end it with the smarty friend managing to say "smawty fwiend smartah dan hooman" even if just barely |
| deathproofpony #1412981 1 month ago |
I originally had a theory that a smarty was a regular colt who saw his mate or more likely his foals killed in front of him. It's an inner drive to protect a group of fluffies, although their desire to do good is driven by arrogance.
Some stories seem to indicate the smarty may be a genetic disposition... perhaps a built in safety feature meant to protect (or even to destroy) fluffy ponies. With a good leader, they can survive in the wild for extended periods of time but the self-destructive nature of the smarty could result in the entire herd's extermination. |
| Vanner #1413012 1 month ago |
Walker had a mutation that gave him excellent memory, but he'd been eating Bovine Growth Hormone his entire life which made him bigger than other fluffies. The combination made him an ideal smarty friend.
Most other smarty friends are just aggressive fluffies who aren't any smarter than fluffies. In the absence of discipline and leadership of a human, they assume the role. Truly smart smarty friends,like No-Lips and Walker, learn to stay away from humans as they know there's nothing they can do for each other, and they'll get destroyed. |
| lordanubis #1413101 1 month ago |
@864 not the direction i had in mind, but maybe i'll write 2 stories. |
| Honey_Dew #1413114 1 month ago |
It depends on whose typing the green text. My personal favorite explanation was that the static electricity generated by a large herd of feral ponies allows unicorns in the herd to use a little more brain power and thus they can perceive obvious threats. |
| GreyAcumane #1413195 1 month ago |
I can't believe that the whole fluffy pony green text stuff was actually forced into something that people can have analytical discussions over. |
| Anonymous #1413240 1 month ago |
@lordanubis- I just wanted the pony abuser to not only realize he'd been had but be mocked for it is all, write what you want |
| lordanubis #1413292 1 month ago |
@240 even if that's not the direction I go in for this story, I'm definitely gonna write something like that eventually. |
| Giant_Neckbeard #1413343 1 month ago |
How I see it:
Classic Type: These Fluffy Ponies are more ambitious than their fellows, and possess a smidge more brain-power, realising that if they use other Fluffies to do their bidding, they are less likely to die. Effectively, they are bullies who use threats and scapegoats to make the other Fluffies like them and/or do what they want. No grass? Blame it on other 'Bad Fluffies' and cement your Herd's loyalty to you as you promise to give the 'Bad Fluffies biggest Owies for takin' Gwasses!' Fluffies running up to a dangerous item and getting murdered? Tell the Herd that the survivors are stupid, that you, as Smarty Friend, wouldn't be dumb enough to run up to a Munsta. Fluffy trying to take something you want? Bite it's tail, tear out it's fluff, beat it up and blow raspberries on it, and assert your dominance, and the rest of the Herd will bow down rather than risk getting hurt themselves. |
| Giant_Neckbeard #1413364 1 month ago |
(Continued)
Advanced Type: Actually smarter than their fellow Fluffies, these Fluffy Ponies are actually several degrees smarter than, possess the ability to remember events without horrific amounts of trauma, although this is not infallible recall it should be noted, and can lead with both brutality and care. No Grass? The Advanced Type will lead the Herd to a new grazing site, or find a substitute type of food, and depending upon the situation, will try to comfort the Herd, blame other Fluffies for the lack of food or even try to take the Herd away from the region if the lack of food persists. Fluffies running up to a dangerous item and getting Murdered? The Advanced Type will remember this event, with it's greater memory retention, and in the future take steps to ensure the Herd doesn't run around with a plan, such as directing his or her Enforcers to keep a cordon around the rest of the Herd and eventually moving on to Stealth to go around and avoid hazards. Fluffy trying to take something you want? The Advanced Type is the most prone to use verbal methods, although this can range from trying to reason with the offending Fluffy Pony to yelling it into submission, but if it does come down to violence, the Advanced Type is the most likely to actually strike at fluff-less targets on the Fluffy Pony, maximising the damage to the rival and somewhat bypassing the weakness of it's own soft hooves and blunt teeth. It should be noted, with a bitter sense of irony, that of all the Fluffy Types, the 'Advanced Smarty Friend Type' is almost the perfect pet for people who would not normally have the time or patience to train a Fluffy Pony. Unfortunately, to take in an Advanced Smarty Friend without conflict (such as it is) with the Fluffy in question, would almost always require the Human to adopt all or most of the Herd in turn. |
| Giant_Neckbeard #1413396 1 month ago |
(Continued)
Demonic Type: If the Advanced Type is a Fluffy Messiah, then the Demonic Type is the polar opposite. While almost as smart, the Demonic Type has learned that other Fluffies make the best shields against predators and can be used to find places to eat food and shelter. These are often found in Garbage Dumps, where a strange cocktail of chemicals, environmental pressures and large numbers of Fluffies dwelling in close proximity under hostile circumstances have created a genetic and social deviant. While not every Garbage Dump Fluffy Pony is a Demonic Type, a sizeable portion are and will almost always go on to become Smarty Friends. They will eagerly sacrifice members of their own Herd to capture and kill a rival, and have been noted to be those who are the most eager to devour meat, from the foals of their Rivals and Rival Herds as well as other sources. Demonic Types are also found in Feral Herds consisting purely of Male Fluffy Ponies, who roam around in a constant raiding state, capturing Female Fluffy Ponies to use to sate their lusts, stealing food from more traditional fluffies and rarely sleeping in one place for long. Without Mares to take care of or Fluffy Mummas to slow them down, these Demonic Raiders move rapidly over the area, raping and pillaging and unfortunately spreading their seeds amongst the Mares of the other Herds. In the end, however, the Demonic Raiders are almost always scattered and destroyed, as their constant victories give the Fluffies a deluded impression that they are unstoppable, and thus they rarely back down, be it against a strong Herd that has the numbers and the resolve to kill them, predators looking for an easy meal, or in one particular case, a Herd of Demonic types that charged head-on a Compactor being used to flatten a road in a futile act of rage and bravado. |
| lordanubis #1413540 1 month ago |
That's very in depth, Neckbeard. |
| Ferrotter #1413552 1 month ago |
Superior? Considering their usual fate, no. Quite the opposite. |
| Anonymous #1413589 1 month ago |
Smarty friend was strapped into a fluffy pony safe highchairas he struggled.
"Hoomon wet smawty fwend go now! " "I'm going to ask you some questions." "Nuuu I smawty fwend I wule hewd I get aww fwuff mares. Wead hewd to nummies aww foaws caww smawty fwend daddy noww wey go or I gif big ouchies!" "Ok smart guy hurt me." The fluffy struggled against his "bonds" only to piss him self under the strain. "I'm waiting." "No smeww good hoomon wet smawty cwean sewf!" "How about I leave you there sitting in your own filth until you die and your herd forgets about you. Or you help me I give you a bath and a five pound bag of oats enough to feed your whole herd." "Hoomon gif foodies to smawty fwend an wet go now!" "Ok screw this its reset time." >zap< "You are smarty friend and all that crap but you've decided you help me because I'm stupid and your that awsome." "....smawty fwend hewp hoomon...." "Ok how did you get to be smart friend." "I say I smawty fwend an no fwuffy argu wit dat! Wast smawrt fwend teww hoomon we wule dis pwace now! Hoomon took smawrty fwend by wingies shove fiwe cwacker up behind and make. Him go way. Fwuffies wun to woods I den say I smawty fwend." "Ok what's a smarty friends job a good smarty friend that is." "Smawty wule hewd teww where go what nummy pwotect when munstaws come......I do dat by teww uder fwuffies og do dat......" "Can any fluffy be a smarty friend?" "No onwy I smawty fwend!" "Crap still a stupid fluffy pony. I mean what makes you a good smarty friend." "I say I smawty fore any udder fwuffy!" "Its dumb luck when your kind get someone that can lead half way decent isn't it." "Pwetty much." |
| Anonymous #1413736 1 month ago |
Dumping basic thrown together fluffy headcanon:
Smarties are smarties for one or both of two reasons. 1. Power vacuum! Someone's gotta fill it. Smarties are just the most aggressive fluffies in the herds who either jump at the opportunity, or step into the role to look out for the rest of their herd. Smarties aren't actually smarter. They're the fluffy ponies' self entitlement at work, with their position and authority made possible only by circumstance and an out of control herd mentality cemented by fluffy ponies' stupidity and dependence on others. If there aren't any humans around, then they turn to a smarty friend to fill their need to be controlled. It's just that fluffy ponies, aside from a few mary sues (of varying degrees), make horrible leaders. Pegasi and earth fluffies are normally this type. Also some of the unicorns who AREN'T run of the mill jackass smarties. 2. By the power of static! Fluffy ponies are prone to generating lots of static electricity. However, their fluff normally insulates them. When large herds brand one of their own a smarty friend and gather around him or her, the amount of static electricity increases to the point where some gets through the fluff and kick starts a fluffy's brain. It's like a computer running on a low power battery suddenly gets plugged in. Their brain's processing power increases, giving them basic leadership abilities. Except, because it didn't come about because of circumstance or character development, their brains don't actually have any leadership "software." Which is why they make horrible leaders who inevitably just get their entire herds killed or broken up. Ill behaved unicorn smarties are usually this type, as their horn's act like lightning rods for the static electricity. Sometimes there are pegasi, earth fluffies or DARE I SAY IT alicorns that also get thrust into the position of smarty because of this, but that doesn't happen often due to the lack of a horn. Or, in the case of alicorns, it's because fluffies kill alicorn foals for being different. Sure, it's FANTASTIC RACISM. But it makes sense if you think about fluffies as being the opposite of G4 Ponies. They're small, fluffy, stupid and incapable of defending themselves. So when one of the master race is born, instead of worshiping it, they treat it like the devil. The actual traits of any given smarty's character are based almost entirely on upbringing and its nature. Most power vacuum smarties tend to be mary sues, or at least somewhat varied in character, due to the likelihood of having experienced different things and attained power in different ways. Unicorn smarties that come about via STATIC are more run of the mill, because they're just average fluffs who all became smarties the same way without any development or hardship at all. If there was, it would fall under the first type even if the second was the precursor to it. There's...also a third type. 3. MARY SUES! Almost as smart as people, if not smarter. They buck canon for the sake of the author writing a story where fluffies are simply swapped in for people, just to satisfy the need for a fluffy pony story to actually have fluffies. These stories are no different than other fan fiction in that the race of the characters is second to their personalities. This is terrible, because fluffy ponies are normally supposed to be defined by their unique racial characteristics. These Mary Sue smarties are most often found in shitty luvbox stories that make you want to throw up a little in your mouth from the diabetus you just caught. These smarties can not only keep herds of 20-100 alive, but they have the intelligence to stage elaborate deceptions and fool even the smartest of humans. If you see one of these smarties in a story, stop and think for a moment. If the story is a shitty greentext that takes refuge in audacity, where the point of it is that the plot is ridiculous and nonsensical, then the mary sue is just another device to take that story farther from regular fluffy canon for the sake of comedy, drama or just causing as much butthurt as possible. However, if the mary sue is passed off as just another fluffy pony in a story that takes itself seriously, then you're reading shitty fan fiction and the author should be assaulted with over nine thousand insults for betraying the spirit of fluffy ponies. The latter type of mary sue is often found in Neckbeard's stories. And that's terrible. He clearly hates fluffy ponies if he needs to change them to be more like people. But he lacks the balls to just have them all killed by REAL people instead. Which makes his stories kind of boring and shitty. There are only so many unnatural liberties you can take with a fluffy before suspension of disbelief collapses. |
| Saint_Braeburn #1413748 1 month ago |
^
Canon? What canon? You mean they buck your fanon. |
| Anonymous #1413831 1 month ago |
I love how my Anon-Bros get so fucking worked up over this.
Every Fluffy Story is a fan-fiction. Don't mind a Hugbox story every now and then. And tell me, is it just because Ghostie stole all the Neckbeard Hugs that you're this butthurt, Anon 736, or that you can't ever write a story that people will read? Alcohol story was meh, funny only for the gay sex City Ferals is awesome. There's been hendreds of fwuffehs killed, and not one Human yet, so when they do arrive, it gunna be a salughter fest! Farm Ferals ... eh, I like. I can see the Farmer going to be a hugboxer, but the feral herds, and the rednecks, and the scientists, plenty of abuse incoming there! |
| Anonymous #1423250 1 month ago |
Fluffy ponies exist solely to enable the sort of abuse story where the perspective character is 'justified' in their abusive actions by the fluffy ponies 'forcing' him to do it, generally due to the perceived unreasonableness of the smarty friend leading them. The association is that intelligence is bad and trying to improve the fluffy ponies' lot actually makes them worse.
It also works as an effective meta-troll where readers and writers talk about how justified and righteous the abuse is now, in order to troll people who actually seriously consider if the abuse is justified (it isn't, that's why it's called abuse). |