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Vaniver comments on A rationalist My Little Pony fanfic - Less Wrong
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I have read all of the original. It is a very well written work, but as befits Fallout, it is grimdark.
There were many parts which seemed like they wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable without strong familiarity with the Fallout universe. They cross it with MLP very well- some of the combinations are eh, but several of them make perfect sense, and are very tragic.
I'm not quite sure I would describe it as "rationalist"- the protagonist is clever, the enemies are often clever, and there's a little bit in the way of plotting and puzzle solving. It seems much more like a standard post-apocalyptic adventure than rationalist fiction, but I'm not quite sure where I would draw the line around rationalist fiction.
Rationalist fiction: There's explicit epistemic or instrumental methods which you see the characters using, described in sufficient detail to convey the general principle as well as the particular case, which you are meant to pick up and use in real life.
What word would you use to describe fiction that presents the world realistically, spurning the comfortable lies that make up most popular fiction, yet without any of the characters necessarily being rationalists? That's the kind of fiction I'm more interested in. What's interesting about Fallout: Equestria is that it sometimes does that, even if by accident. That's what's interesting about fan-fiction: You're allowed to write truthfully about the world, in a way that a professional editor probably wouldn't let you.
Fallout: Equestria struck me as philosophically deep compared to books you can buy in the bookstore. But I don't think that was due to careful thought by the author, because it was too inconsistent and incompletely worked-out. I think that the books in the bookstore have had any accidental wisdom systematically edited out, especially adventure, fantasy, and romance.
SPOILER
For instance, it's not as interesting that Red Eyes is a rationalist and a consequentialist (he is more of a straw vulcan), as that the hero who has set out to destroy Red Eyes' evil organization ends up having to defend it because it's so damn useful, and then allying with it to maintain the balance of power.
That's exactly what I'm trying for.
Whether I'm succeeding at it - well, that's what I wrote the post here to try to find out.