@Darth Sonic  
Man I wish I can like/fav comments! ^^

@SFaccountant  
What I love about the Ponies of this universe is how, despite having so many similarities to the Tau and similar idealism, they so quickly adapted their philosophy to the cruelty of the galaxy. The Tau looked at the galaxy and stubbornly decided to force the galaxy to accept their “United Federation of Planets” Star Trek ideals with mixed success. The Ponies looked at the Galaxy and decided “well, Chaos reached out their hands in Friendship, so we’re gonna help them conquer the galaxy in an orgy of blood and terror because they are our Friends, THEN we’ll look into fixing all of this, but we put our Friends first!”
 
They’re a nice contrast to each other. Ineffectually sticking to your guns, or accepting insane levels of evil for the long-term survival of their ideals in a galaxy actively hostile to said philosophy.
 
And it also makes your Ponies really unique. ESPECIALLY for the time you started posting these; the number of fics I read where Ponies had panic attacks at the mere thought of Game Hunting was absurd back then, especially in Human in Equestria fics. So seeing your Ponies put their money where their mouth was, and have them befriend the unbefriendable and through their new friends EMBRACE extreme violence was a breath of fresh air.

@SFaccountant  
That’s true. I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing. It’s just that usually people tend to put ‘stereotype’ type features when forming a type of society. I don’t mind, because really, would you want to go toe to toe with the stuff in Warhammer?
 
The Tau have the best ideology in this regard.

@Evowizard25  
I don’t think that’s strange at all. At least the writers were TRYING to be creative rather than tossing down a few Gundams and saying “These are the anime aliens. Somebody draw me a chain katana.”  
It also gives them a fairly consistent weak point, since they’re yet ANOTHER alien race that has better tech than humanity by default.

@SFaccountant  
Then they get other races to fight, like the kroot. Maybe a bit of a cheap tactic, but eh…Kind of a strange feature that they usually can’t fight in close quarters when they have an eastern sort of theme to them.

@Evowizard25  
I mostly respect them for trying to keep to a distinctly optimistic and idealistic heading in a distinctly cruel and unforgiving galaxy. I think it takes more courage to meet the likes of the Orks, Tyranids, and Necrons and still try to offer an open hand to every new alien race than it does to simply send more armored super-soldiers at them. I think some Tau hate from Imperial players stems from the uncomfortable fact that the Tau refuse to give up their “naïve” vision of semi-peaceful galactic unification when humans long ago decided that their greatest honor and most celebrated fate was to die in the name of some rotting lich half a galaxy away. Rather than being any kind of “good guy”, “bad guy”, “sort-of-bad guy” moral thing, it’s that the Tau still have hope for a better future rather than just clinging to the awful present.
 
The rest of the hate probably comes from the fact that they can’t fight in melee.

@SFaccountant  
Exactly the same with me. I mean, my two favorite characters are Commander Farsight {owns a giant mech, chaos flaming sword, and can go toe to toe with orks in battle} and Kaptin Bluddflagg {funniest character in Warhammer and the most reasonable ork I’ve ever seen. He does seem to actually care about his crew.}.
 
I really do enjoy how the tau are the most accepting race. It’s kind of refreshing having an alien race being the good guys of sorts rather than humans. {Eh, humans are pretty much in every fantasy or sci-fi setting and the ones who have to save the day. Tau are like the exception to this and I love it.}

@Evowizard25  
I suppose it’s reasonable to assume otherwise, but the Tau and Orks are two of my favorite factions, right after the Iron Warriors (and way ahead of most of the other Chaos Legions). That’s why I gave them big roles in the story. I actually really like the Tau’s “diplomacy first” and “hope for a better galaxy” shtick. And the way it’s frequently subverted and challenged by the demands of a galaxy in which there is only war!

@SFaccountant  
Huh, sorry for assuming. I’ve just seen a lot of hate for the Tau on other sites. I apologize for jumping to that conclusion.

@Evowizard25  
The Tau? Hated? I don’t hate them. They were the antagonists for (part of) this story, but that doesn’t mean I think they’re a bad faction or anything.  
And every time someone wonders about “Tau hate” I always see several defenders of the little guys pop up, so I don’t think they’re that widely despised, either.

@Evowizard25  
Honestly I find it a bit galling too much of the time. Doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it a lot of the time.

Is it just me that’s tired of the Tau getting hated so much?…It’s just me? Okay then. That’s alright. I actually like the Tau. {At least their not the ‘totally’ necessary Chaos Eldar, oops, I mean Dark Eldar faction.}

@Xhydralisk  
Yeah, probably should have included a panel where Applejack’s farm gets blown up.

Leaves out a few details, but otherwise, SPOT-ON.

that’s… very accurate…